Many buses still off the road, even after fare hike

KOLKATA: One out of every eight buses continues to remain off the city’s streets even after the recent fare hike, an ominous sign that these vehicles — which form the backbone of Kolkata’s public transport system — may not ever return.




So scenes from the last century and the early 2000s are back to haunt commuters — hundreds waiting at bus stops during the peak morning and evening rush hours — as bus owners say the meagre hike (of a rupee) has not been enough to offset their operational losses and make running buses viable on all routes.




“Nearly 30% private buses were off the road before the fare hike. Many of them are yet to return as their owners feel the hike of Re 1

for every stage is not enough to absorb the accumulated losses. We are short by 10%-12% of the sanctioned fleet size on each route. This is leading to overcrowding on buses that are running,” Tapan Bandyopadhyay of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates said.

Many of the buses that are running tend to go off the road in the afternoon or late evening when commuter count drops. This has led to a reduction in the number of daily mandatory round trips from four to two or three on many routes. The waiting time for buses in areas like Kidderpore, Dum Dum and Rajarhat during these off-peak hours has shot up from 10 minutes to 20-25 minutes now.

Commuters shell out more, suffer break-journey woes

A bus operator on route 18/1 (Shakuntala Park-BBD Bag) said:“There is huge passenger rush during peak hours. But lack of passengers during off-peak hours makes the service unviable. It is difficult to recover even the cost of operation in the early morning, late afternoon and late evening.”

Transport department officials said not operating mandatory trips is violation of permit conditions and owners should surrender the permits.

Caught in the middle are commuters. “We expected the buses that were withdrawn to come back after the fare hike. But that has not happened. We are often forced to opt for autos or taxis and spend more to commute to office. I end up paying six times the usual if I take an auto instead of a bus from Thakurpukur to Hastings,” said Gour Burman, a logistics company employee.

Sodepur resident and City College student Raktim Haldar used to take the bus on route 78/1 (Sodepur-Esplanade) to college. Like thousands of other commuters, he is now forced to spend twice on the fare, travelling a stretch by auto before getting on a crowded bus for the rest of the journey.