Finding the right Chennai bus route should not require guessing what a suffix means or trusting a timetable copied years ago. Use the free finder below to search 606 MTC bus routes, 8,223 ordered stop records, and 1,339 stop names. You can also locate a mapped bus stop near you or open point-to-point transit directions.
One warning matters: a route list is not a live arrival board. Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) schedules, temporary diversions, and terminal changes can make static data stale. The official MTC timing search said its schedule was updated on June 16, 2026, while MTC route information said it was updated on July 8, 2026. Check both before a time-sensitive trip.
Search 606 reference routes and 8,223 ordered stop records. Then verify today’s departure on MTC.
Popular route searches
21 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
24 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
The supplied route snapshot has no dependable stop sequence for this variant. Check MTC before boarding.
The supplied route snapshot has no dependable stop sequence for this variant. Check MTC before boarding.
The supplied route snapshot has no dependable stop sequence for this variant. Check MTC before boarding.
24 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
22 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
10 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
25 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
19 listed stages. This is a stop sequence, not a live arrival feed.
The supplied route snapshot has no dependable stop sequence for this variant. Check MTC before boarding.
The supplied route snapshot has no dependable stop sequence for this variant. Check MTC before boarding.
To check MTC bus timings today, use the official timing page with the exact route number, boarding direction, and destination. A search for “104 bus timings” is incomplete because the 104 family contains several variants. The same problem applies to 102, 570, and other route families.
Follow this order:
This five-step check is slower than copying the first time shown on another website, but it is far less likely to leave you waiting at the wrong stop.
The most searched Chennai bus routes and numbers are usually route families that connect large terminals, suburban hubs, and the IT corridor. The table below separates current official checks from the supplied reference snapshot.
| Route | Reference corridor | What to verify today |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | T. Nagar to Thiruvanmiyur | Current stages and departure direction |
| 57X | Vallalar Nagar to Periyapalayam | Current stops and first/last trip |
| 102 | Island Ground to Kelambakkam | Official MTC stages updated July 8, 2026 |
| 104 | Red Hills to Tambaram in the supplied snapshot | Direction and current 104-family variant |
| 104C | Kilambakkam to M.G.R. Koyambedu in a newer MTC record | Exact scheduled departures |
| 104CX | M.G.R. Koyambedu to Guduvanchery in a newer MTC record | Whether the limited trip serves your stop |
| 170TX | M.G.R. Koyambedu to Kilambakkam in MTC’s night schedule | Today’s night departure |
| 202 | Tambaram to Avadi | Whether you need 202 or a current X variant |
| 570 | M.G.R. Koyambedu to Kelambakkam | Current route stages and AC availability |
| 588 | Thiruvanmiyur to Mamallapuram in the reference data | Current endpoint and ECR stopping pattern |
The finder also accepts searches for 2B, C64, 202X, and MAA2. Those newer or renamed variants do not have dependable stop sequences in the supplied 606-route snapshot, so the tool sends you to MTC instead of filling the gap with a guess.
MTC’s current home page says Broadway bus services were shifted temporarily to Royapuram and Island Grounds from January 24, 2026. That explains a major conflict between older route datasets and current MTC results. For example, the supplied snapshot lists route 102 from Broadway, while the July 8 official route record starts at Island Ground.
If a website still tells you to board every Broadway-origin service at the old terminus, check MTC before walking there. Temporary terminal changes are exactly why this page labels source freshness.
There is no single answer to “104 bus timings today.” Route 104 and its lettered variants are different services. The supplied snapshot contains route 104 between Red Hills and Tambaram, but newer MTC records also list variants connecting Kilambakkam with Koyambedu, Madhavaram, M.M.B.T., and T.V.K. Nagar.
Common high-interest variants include:
The data conflict is useful evidence. The older supplied snapshot lists 104C from Koyambedu to Guduvanchery, while a newer official MTC record lists 104C from Kilambakkam to Koyambedu and assigns the Guduvanchery corridor to 104CX. Memorizing an old suffix can put you on the wrong bus.
For 104 bus timings from Tambaram, first identify whether you want the base 104 or a variant passing through a different corridor. Then use MTC’s timing form. It requires the route, starting point, and destination, which is the correct level of detail for a timetable answer.
MTC’s published night-service schedule lists 170TX between M.G.R. Koyambedu and Kilambakkam Bus Terminus. The supplied 606-route snapshot does not contain 170TX, so this page uses the newer official night record for its endpoints and does not invent an intermediate stop list.
If you are searching for 170TX bus route Chennai timings, open the official timing search and choose the travel direction. The night schedule contains individual departures, but a PDF can become stale when MTC changes a duty, cuts a trip, or diverts a corridor.
Route 170TX is a good example of why “MTC routes” and “MTC bus timings” should be treated as separate questions. A route record explains the corridor. A timetable explains planned departures. Live tracking explains current vehicle movement. You need all three when the last connection matters.
Use the Bus Stop Near Me tab in the tool and allow browser location access. The calculation happens on your device. ChennaiCentral does not receive your latitude or longitude.
The nearby-stop feature compares your position with 1,232 valid coordinates from the supplied community map. That map is useful, but it is older and partial. It covers far fewer routes than the 606-route stop-sequence snapshot, contains repeated stop names such as Saidapet and Broadway, and cannot confirm which side of a divided road is active today.
Use this practical check before boarding:
For a trip from a landmark such as Chennai Central Railway Station, do not search for one universal “central bus number.” Enter your destination in the point-to-point planner. The right bus number changes depending on whether you are going to T. Nagar, Tambaram, Adyar, Koyambedu, or OMR.
MTC operates AC services, but AC deployment can change by trip even when the route number remains familiar. The safe approach is to check the current service type in MTC’s tools instead of assuming that every 570, 102, or airport-corridor departure is air-conditioned.
The official MTC Travel As You Please pass page lists two useful monthly options:
| Monthly pass | Price | Services included |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | ₹1,000 | Ordinary, Express, Deluxe, and Night; AC excluded |
| Diamond | ₹2,000 | Ordinary, Express, Deluxe, AC, and Night |
Both exclude Lift services and charter trips. MTC says the digital passes became available through the Chennai One app on November 27, 2025, with one-month validity from purchase.
The Diamond pass makes sense if you commute frequently on MTC AC bus routes. It is poor value if most of your travel is on free Ordinary services or you ride only a few times per week. Count your real monthly trips before paying ₹2,000.
MTC’s home page also states that women can travel free on Ordinary-fare city buses. That benefit is tied to the service category, not every bus carrying the same route number. Confirm the board and service type when boarding.
Yes. Chennai has selected night-service departures, and the official MTC website publishes a separate night general timing schedule. This does not mean that every MTC route runs all night or that frequency stays high after the evening peak.
The official schedule includes examples such as 170TX between Koyambedu and Kilambakkam, 51A between Kilambakkam and Chennai Airport, and late trips on selected 18A patterns. Read the time in 24-hour format and check the direction carefully.
For a late trip:
Avoid the blanket claim that Chennai has “no buses after 11:00 p.m.” The official night schedule disproves it. The accurate answer is narrower: overnight service exists on selected routes and departures, not across the full city network.
There is no single Chennai bus starting time or last-bus time. First and last departures vary by route, direction, depot, weekday, and service type. A bus may leave one terminal early in the morning but begin much later in the reverse direction.
That is why this page no longer publishes a citywide table of estimated first buses. An exact-looking time without a current route-direction source is worse than no time at all.
To find a first or last bus:
“Chennai bus routes and numbers and timings today” is one search query, but it contains three separate data checks. The finder handles route numbers and reference stops. MTC handles the current schedule. Live tracking handles vehicle movement.
No. MTC runs city buses. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) runs metro trains. Searches such as “metro bus timings” often mix the two systems.
Use MTC for bus route numbers, surface stops, AC buses, and night services. Use CMRL for metro station maps, train frequency, and first or last metro services. For a mixed trip, the point-to-point planner can show a bus-plus-metro connection.
Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) now maintains Transit Data Chennai, a unified repository for static MTC, Metro, and suburban rail datasets. That is a promising official source for future tool updates. Static GTFS data still does not replace live tracking, but it is a better long-term format than disconnected spreadsheets.
For a broader orientation to the city and its transport choices, use the complete Chennai guide. Tourists who want a fixed sightseeing circuit should compare regular MTC travel with the Chennai Ula heritage bus.
For this update, ChennaiCentral audited every supplied file before using it. The datasets contain useful information, but they do not represent one current, complete MTC feed.
| Supplied dataset | What it contains | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Dataset 1 | 64 directional records and 1,280 stop coordinates | Use cleaned coordinates with an older-data warning |
| Dataset 2 | 606 route IDs and 8,223 ordered stop records | Use as the searchable reference core with current overrides |
| Dataset 3 | 549 SETC intercity timetable rows from 2018 | Exclude from the MTC city finder |
| Dataset 4 | MRTS rail lines and 118 rail station points | Exclude because it is not bus data |
Dataset 2 is the strongest file. It has no blank stop names or duplicate route-and-sequence pairs. Its weakness is freshness: it has no scrape date and misses newer searches such as 170TX, C64, MAA2, and 202X.
Dataset 1 is much older and covers only a small share of the bus network. It is still useful for approximate nearby-stop distance, so the tool labels the result as community mapped and asks you to verify it.
Dataset 3 comes from the Tamil Nadu open-data catalog, but it was last updated in September 2018 and belongs to SETC, not MTC. Dataset 4 is public MRTS rail geography. Mixing either into an MTC route count would inflate the page with irrelevant records.
This source separation is the main trust feature of the tool. It tells you what the data can answer and where it stops.
Use the official MTC Bus Timing Search, select the route number, starting point, and destination, and then compare the scheduled departure with MTC live tracking or a transit app. A timetable is scheduled data, not a guarantee of the bus's current position.
Route 104 has several different variants, including 104C, 104CX, 104F, 104M, and 104T. Check the exact suffix in the official MTC timing search because each variant has different endpoints, stops, and departure times.
MTC's official night-service schedule lists 170TX between M.G.R. Koyambedu and Kilambakkam Bus Terminus. Check the latest MTC timing page before travel because individual trips and stopping patterns can change.
There is no single Chennai bus starting time. First departures vary by route, direction, and depot. Use the MTC timing search for your exact route number and boarding direction instead of relying on a citywide estimate.
Last-bus times differ by route and direction, and MTC also publishes a separate night-service schedule. Check the official timing search on the day you travel, especially after 9:00 p.m. or during diversions and festivals.
Use the Bus Stop Near Me tab on this page to compare your browser location with the supplied community-mapped stops. Confirm the current boarding point in Google Maps or with MTC because the coordinate dataset is older and incomplete.
Yes. MTC operates AC services, but the route and trip mix can change. The ₹2,000 Diamond Travel As You Please monthly pass includes AC services, while the ₹1,000 Gold pass excludes AC services.
Older route lists often name route 588 between Thiruvanmiyur and Mamallapuram, but longest-route claims can become outdated after route extensions and cuts. Treat 588 as a long ECR reference route and verify current endpoints on MTC.
Found a changed endpoint, missing stop, or renamed route? Send the route number, direction, boarding stop, and date through the ChennaiCentral contact page. A correction with those four details is far easier to verify than “the timing is wrong.”
Start with the route finder for a Chennai bus route number, ordered reference stops, a nearby mapped stop, or a point-to-point plan. Then open MTC for the day’s schedule and live movement. That combination is more dependable than a static “complete timetable” copied without a date.
If you are heading down ECR, the reference data includes route 588 through Muttukadu and Mamallapuram. You can pair that with the MGM Dizzee World guide for a day trip. For a better understanding of the neighborhoods and administrative areas a route crosses, use the Chennai wards and zones guide.
This guide was last reviewed on July 17, 2026. MTC routes and timings can change before the next review. Check the official MTC tools before you leave, especially for the first bus, last bus, AC service, airport connections, and night departures.
