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Introduction
The Cities in India are growing considerably at a faster rate with the suburbs thriving at a rapid rate. Chennai is also no exception for such development. The problems of congestion and overcrowding are common predicament in urban life. This situation force the planners to evolve with new strategies and ideas for meeting the requirements of the population which is steadily increasing quantitatively and also having a rapid shift in the cultural pattern which influence much on the living style of the people.

Transportation network can be rightly stated as the lifelines of the people that connect both urban and rural areas. In Metropolitan cities, public transport especially the corporation buses caters to the need of all the sections of the society irrespective of their economic status. On considering all the above mentioned factors it is apparent that the use of GIS would ensure optimum utilization of available resources for development of transport network.

Defining the problem:
The problem presented here is the location of bus stops. Are the bus stop location conducive for everyone? Any facility could not meet the need of each and every individual, here comes the optimization principle where maximum comfort and convenience could be given to the public by proper planning, which can be effectively done using GIS by considering the apposite parameters. The location of bus stops and the walking distance to those stops are of great concern.

The following defects were observed in the present locations of the bus stops:

1. In certain areas, the bus stops are closely located resulting in waste of time and space.
2. In many areas the bus stops are sparsely sited forcing the people to walk long distances or to take other modes of transport.
3. Some bus stop locations are found to be hazardous posing danger to other vehicles and may also cause traffic congestion.

Description of City:
The Chennai City, the capital of Tamil Nadu State is the fourth largest city in India. Chennai is situated in the 13th north parallel and 80° longitude, along the Coromandel Coast in the southern part of the Indian peninsula .

The present area of this Metropolitan city is 170 sq.km. with a population of about 6 million. As per the 2001 Census density of population is roughly about 24,000 persons per square kilometer .

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