Following the steep increase in the COVID cases, the government has limited the number of passengers travelling on a bus to its seating capacity and banning standing travel. 

In Tamil Nadu, apart from Chennai, Nagercoil and Ooty, 4,700 private buses are being operated. Of them, about 1,500 are town buses. 

Dharmaraj, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Private Bus Owners’ Association, said private bus operators have been operating regularly in the State after the lockdown restrictions were relaxed. “We lost 50 per cent of our revenue due to the new regulation that allows carrying passengers up to its seating capacity only. Earlier, each private bus could carry 42 seated passengers and up to 40 standing passengers. Due to the new curbs on the number of passengers, we are carrying only 50 per cent of the passengers. As a result, we have lost 50 per cent of our revenue. The government should reduce the road tax by 50 per cent to make up for our loss,” he demanded. 

Bus operators lamented that they suffered heavy losses during the lockdown past year. “We were not given any compensation or road tax waiver,” they noted.