Kolkata:
With private buses returning to the roads on several routes in the city and some districts on Thursday, commuter woes were considerably less compared to the inconvenience they faced earlier due to lack of public transport.
The two major bus operators’ syndicates said they brought back their vehicles on the roads following an appeal by West Bengal Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari.
“Though no decision has yet been taken by the government regarding our demand for a fare hike, we decided to restart services for the benefit of the people who are finding it difficult to reach their destination owing to lack of adequate transportation,” Joint Council of Bus Syndicates general secretary Tapan Banerjee said.
The All Bengal Bus Minibus Samannoy Samity general secretary Rahul Chatterjee said they have also increased buses in several routes in the city and in districts.
With many offices, factories and other establishment having reopened since the beginning of the week, commuters have been facing severe hardship to reach their workplaces and also back home.
Only government-run buses have so far been running in the city and the districts, which proved to be inadequate compared to the demand.
The state government has ordered that buses can carry only seating capacity passengers and no one will be allowed to travel standing.
Private bus operators demanded a fare hike claiming that running buses with limited passengers would cause losses for them and were reluctant to ply their vehicles, with only a few coming back to the roads since the beginning of the week.
Banerjee said that despite losses, they will be running their buses as a goodwill gesture while expressing hope that a regulatory committee formed by the government will soon take a decision on fare revision.
