Click here for more...


Click here for more...


VOL. XXIV NO. 21, February 16-28, 2015
Nostalgia
PT, my daily bus at Lawder's Gate
by Dr. Anantanarayanan Raman
araman@csu.edu.au

I have in the past written in these columns about the medical doctor James Lawder and the Lawder’s Gate bus stop in Purasawalkam (Raja Annamalai Chettiar Road-Gangadareswara Koil Street junction). One childhood memory of this bus stop that has been haunting me since recently has been the bright-red bus bearing number 20 which touched Lawder’s Gate bus stop, while plying between Broadway and Villivakkam.

Mohammad Sulaiman

The earliest buses for public use in Madras were pressed into service by the Madras Tramways Corporation in 1925. This service folded up for various reasons in 1928. Small private bus companies operated until May 1947, when the State nationalised within-city bus operations. All State-run buses were identically blue, at first, red later, and green still later. Route 20, run by a private bus company – the Presidency Transport Private Limited (PT Limited) – which transported Purasawalkam residents to George Town via Madras Central Station was an exception.

Bus Route 20 was special to me then, because this bus was strikingly different from the State-run buses, such as Route 16 plying between Kelly’s Corner and Mount Road (terminating at Casino and Gaiety Cinemas) and Route 22 running between Kelly’s Corner and Triplicane (terminating at Pycroft’s Road-Marina Beach junction, next to Presidency College), which were the other two bus lines that touched Lawder’s Gate bus stop. The minimum fare in Government buses was 10 paise, whereas in Route 20 the fare was cheaper: 7 paise. The tickets issued in Route 20 were distinctly different from those issued on Routes 16 and 22. If my memory serves right, this route operated as a private line until the 1970s.

A Madras bus of yesteryears, shown here for representational purpose only. (Courtesy: Vintage Vignettes.)

PT Limited and the City Motor Service were the pioneering bus companies in Madras. The Route 20 buses, run by PT Limited, were unique in many ways. They were Fargo buses, whereas the State service plied either Bedfords or Ashok Leylands. The passenger seating used to be different in the two services. The State buses had two rows of similar seats, each meant to seat two, arranged in two columns separated by a median aisle, whereas the Route 20 buses had an asymmetrical seating arrangement. As a passenger entered from the rear end, rows of longish seats were provided on the right, each meant to accommodate three passengers, although, invariably, four would squeeze in, and a long single seat that ran parallel to the left wall of the bus from the driver’s end to the rear of the bus. A narrow, hard-to-walk-through aisle ran between the left seat facing windows on the right and the other seats facing the back of the driver and the engine compartment. Being not an automobile engineer, I cannot describe all this in greater detail. As a non-Government bus, Route 20 terminated in George Town at the private bus parking lot, viz. the Pookkadai (Flower Bazaar), popularly known as the Broadway Bus Terminus, whereas the Government-run buses terminated at Parry’s Corner.

The rest of the story presented here pertains to the company PT Limited, which ran buses from Broadway to several suburban towns. Meherunnissa Baig, Farahatullah Baig, and Sajid Sikander Mohammed supplied me details of PT Limited and its founder-director, the late Mohammad Sulaiman.

Mohammad Sulaiman was born to Mohammad Shaik Dawood in Madras on July 15, 1890. Although he did not complete his schooling, he was sharp. His strengths were a keen power of observation and an unending enthusiasm to learn new skills. Subsequent to a dispute with his family, he went to Bombay to pursue new opportunities. At Bombay, he was sheltered by a well-meaning Marwari couple, who owned a motor-car repair and service garage. He worked there and got trained to be a mechanic. After 15 years in Bombay he returned to Madras and set up a bus body building workshop. He built not only bodies of motor vehicles, but also excellent social contacts. Sulaiman decided to start a transport-bus company and started PT Limited, partnering three friends, Fernandes, Sankaran Nair, and Ramanajulu Naidu.

Sulaiman managed the day-to-day affairs of PT Limited as the Managing Director and ran the Company. The depot of PT Limited buses was on Mount Road, where the Devi Group of cinema theatres is at present. At the peak of operations, 22 buses plied along various routes from Madras. Among the different routes, Broadway-Chingleput and Broadway-Pallavaram routes were the most popular.

PT Limited earned a reputation of being an efficient and reliable bus service. It employed 60 people. Sulaiman also took great care of the welfare of the workers of the Company.

PT Limited was the first bus company in Madras to introduce route numbers for buses. For example, the route numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 20, 20A, 25, 25B, were launched by PT Limited as city bus routes. In recognition of Sulaiman’s service to development of, public transport in Madras, he was decorated with a medal by the then Minister for Transport of the Government of Madras.

On a block of land in Royapettah, which belonged to him, New College came up in the 1950s.

Sulaiman was a self-made person, who believed only in hard work, honesty, and integrity. He readily helped those in need. Sulaiman never discriminated among those who came to him seeking help and support; none ever returned empty handed.

He married Jeelani Bee. Sikandar Mohammad and Meherunnissa (later Meherunnissa Baig) were his children. He passed away on October 13, 1965.

Please click here to support the Heritage Act
OUR ADDRESSES

In this issue

Is this building doomed?
Madras Landmarks - 50 years ago
Wake up, Madras, save our walls
The emigrants' friend
Youth make Lit-for-Life vibrant
Plans, once, for rail-canal link
The day a Prime Minister heard out students
'PT, my daily bus at Lawder's Gate'

Our Regulars

Short 'N' Snappy
Readers Write
Dates for your Diary

Archives

Download PDF