Tamil Nadu will operate 15,659 buses from November 5 to November 7 to manage the Diwali travel rush, including 7,427 services in addition to the regular schedule, Transport Minister Vijay Thamizhselvan Parthiban said at a press briefing in Chennai.
The special services will operate from 16 locations across Chennai, including Thiruvanmiyur, Adyar, Avadi, Guindy, Saidapet, Poonamallee and Velachery. The arrangement is intended to distribute passenger departures across the city instead of concentrating all festival-bound services at the usual terminals.
A temporary bus station will also be established at Maraimalai Nagar. Buses from this facility will serve Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Panruti and Kumbakonam. The minister said the temporary facility was being arranged to reduce traffic congestion and improve convenience for passengers travelling during the festival period.
The announcement covers outbound travel from Chennai from November 5 through November 7. For passengers returning to the city after Diwali, 11,197 buses will be operated on November 9 and 10, according to the transport department’s plan. The return schedule is intended to accommodate the movement of passengers back to Chennai after the festival.
The state will also deploy 1,459 private buses under contract arrangements. These services will supplement the regular fleet during the peak travel period. The announcement did not specify how the contracted buses would be distributed across individual routes or departure points.
The decision reflects the operational challenge created when festival travel is handled through a single urban transport network. Chennai’s regular bus terminals and arterial roads must serve both routine city movement and a sharp increase in inter-city demand. By using 16 departure locations and adding Maraimalai Nagar as a temporary facility, the transport department is using multiple points around the metropolitan area for scheduled departures.
The minister also said that 26,139 buses were planned across districts other than Chennai over a three-day period. These services are part of the wider state-level arrangement for Diwali travel, in addition to the special operations planned from Chennai.
For passengers, the main operational details are the travel window, the designated departure locations and the availability of return services on November 9 and 10. The transport department’s announcement did not provide route-wise timings, ticketing details or information on traffic diversions around each of the temporary and existing boarding points. Further operational instructions will determine how passengers are directed to the relevant services during the festival period.
