Kolkata: Commuters face tough time due to absence of adequate buses on city roads

With most private buses still off roads, commuters on Tuesday faced a harrowing time in reaching ir workplaces on time as government-run buses could t cope with peak-hour rush.

Many private offices and establishments had opened from Monday but lack of adequate transport facilities continued to hamper movement of people even on Tuesday.

"Around 400 government buses plied in city on Tuesday. It will be 800 in a couple of days and from June 8, number of buses will furr go up to over 1,000 in city routes," Transport minister Suvendu Adhikary said.

state government had on Saturday extended lockdown till June 15, but allowed total attendance in micro, small, medium and large industries from June 1. People faced hardship as y waited for hours for a bus to go to work and return home.

"Government buses are operating, but number of buses is far from adequate," said an office-goer waiting to board a bus in Kasba area of south Kolkata for over an hour. Private vehicles came out in large numbers as also taxis and app cabs causing traffic snarls in several places of city, including business and trading hubs, which have started functioning rmally after an over two-month long hiatus owing to lockdown.

Adhikay said that taxis, app cabs and autorickshaws will be allowed to carry passengers as per seating capacity. As per earlier directives, number of passengers were restricted to two in se vehicles.

West Bengal government has allowed buses to operate with passengers t more than its seating capacity from June 1, but most private operators chose t to ply ir vehicles claiming that it would lead to losses.

A section of private bus operators have started services with lesser number of buses on some routes in city and suburbs on an experimental basis. With suburban trains and metro railway services yet to resume operations, people have to depend on buses or autorickshaws which are much less than requirement, a man on way to office from Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district said.

"I usually take train, but w have to depend on buses. Waiting for over an hour, but since seats are already occupied, buses are t picking up passengers," he said.

Autorickshaws were also fewer in number and those who brought out ir vehicles were charging much higher than rmal rates since y can carry only two passengers at a time.

A section of private bus operators have started services with less number of buses on some routes in city and suburbs on an experimental basis. While All Bengal Bus Minibus Samany Samity has resumed services on some routes on an experimental basis, Joint Council of Bus Syndicates said it will t be possible to run buses on current fares as y will incur a huge loss even if y ply with passengers in every seat.

private bus operators held a meeting with state transport department officials on Tuesday for formation of a regulatory committee for revising fares. Joint Council of Bus Syndicates general secretary Tapan Banerjee said that private buses carry 85 per cent passengers in state with more than 45,000 buses. At least 6,500 private buses and around 1200 government-run buses operate in city during rmal times. Ferry services across river Hooghly resumed services on nine routes from Monday.

Im Credits: PTI