… CMBT stands for chaos and madness in the bus terminal
Chennai has a well earned reputation for being a difficult city to get around in. In fact this is both true and untrue. Your two main options are auto and bus. There is a train route that cuts down the coast, and links to the airport, so it’s not a great deal of use in getting around town.
Auto rickshaws …. I think I’ve already given you the impression that for the most part they’re pretty dodgy. Even the locals consider them a bit suspect. That being said, one of them today gave me a free ride just to be nice, and because he thought I was an interesting oddball. Good apples in every batch. But generally, they will tell you that the meter is broken, that it costs between 2 and 3 times what the metered journey would have cost depending on what language you speak, and that they will carry you for free if you just visit a mate’s handicraft shop (they get a small commission for delivery, but 2% on the sale so they’ll get gnarly if you don’t buy anything). Generally it costs more in energy keeping the price down than it would to walk to your destination with a 30 kilo pack on your back.
Then there are the buses. Thes will take you almost anywhere in Chennai, but it is a truly random and chaotic system. Buses are known by their route number, like 27C 6B or 99FFFFF. I still haven’t found a relationship between any of the route numbers or letters. There are of course no maps of bus routes. Even if you are on a route, many of the stops are camouflaged, and the fact that you are on a bus’s route and at a bus stop, is no guarantee that you are at a stop for that bus. The routes which stop are listed on the roof of the bus stop if it hasn’t decayed or been posted over.
Of course, a local who goes to where you are trying to go will know which bus and stand. But finding the right person to ask can be an interesting test of patience and pidgin.
On the other hand, anywhere that the bus has slowed enough to make a running leap on or off is as good as a bus stop. Nobody minds this, least of all the conductor… Generally, they slow down around corners. So this can be a good place to lurk to catch a ride, and generally a good place to get off. And the bus conductor may not know which bus will take you where your going, but he’ll know if his bus doesn’t. I think everyone in Chennai learns the system the same way.
A good swag of the routes will eventually end up at CMBT, which is the Chennai Main Bus Terminal. This is where all the intercity buses start from, and a good place to catch a bus from if you don’t want to be standing for a 50-150k journey. Of course most routes to CMBT are the most torturously twisted. Going to Mamallapuram from Triplicaine (both in the south) will take almost an extra hour and a half via CMBT (on a 3 hour journey). But of course, you’ll get a seat and a chance to experience the glory chaos and madness that is CMBT. The photo above is one platform of 4 intercity platforms. The suburban routes are on the other side of a whopping great terminal building, with two dedicated platforms. Of course there are no routes, numbers, or obviously published time tables, and the main function of the terminal building is to look thoroughly impressive. I think you can book tickets for longer routes there, but generally you can buy a ticket on the bus.
But once you’re on a bus, it’s a fun ride, and if most of the windows have been removed that isn’t a problem around here in the warm chennai winter.
