Surat: Members of airport activists’ group have demanded public transportation for passengers to and from the railway station and airport during night curfew hours. Around 15 flights land at Surat Airport daily and a similar number of flights take off daily.
Urging Surat civic chief Banchhanidhi Pani for immediate provision of transportation facilities, Sanjay Jain, one of the members of the group, ‘We work for Airport’, told TOI, “Sans cab or rickshaws available after 7pm, passengers to and from the railway station and airport are finding transportation a huge problem. We, therefore, urge the Surat Municipal Corporation to provide public transport facilities during the curfew hours.”
SMC officials, however, said that it has reduced its fleet of city buses from 300 to 200 in the city in the last few days due to spread of Covid-19. On an average, around 60,000 people use city bus services daily right now.
“City bus services reduced in the city owing to spread of Covid-19. Service within city have been stopped after 7 pm as night curfew comes into effect,’‘ said Kamlesh Naik, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, SMC.
“In normal circumstances, public transport system operates till 9 pm but due to curfew restrictions, we now operate only till 7 pm,” an official said.