Private bus and minibus operators ‘hike’ fares to resume service A ride from Baguiati to Ultadanga could cost Rs 12, instead of Rs 7 and a trip from MG Road to Howrah station will cost Rs 10, instead of Rs 7
A section of private bus and minibus operators has decided to resume their services on Tuesday charging fares that have been locally agreed upon, instead of the one approved by the state government.
At a meeting of bus owners to discuss their course of action late on Monday evening, several operators said commuters across many routes in Calcutta had told them that they were ready to pay increased fares provided the hike did not pinch them too hard.
Rabi Mandal of Sonarpur ended up spending around Rs 80 on Friday to reach his office in Beltala near Bhowanipore, changing auto rickshaws four times in between.
On other days it would cost Mandal Rs 14 to cover the same distance on two private buses.
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If the Bengal government had agreed to a bus fare hike that the operators were pressing for, Mandal would have had to spend Rs 30 at the most.
That is Rs 50 less than what he ended up paying on Friday.
The state government’s ploy to somehow stall a bus fare hike is hurting people more. Several commuters like Mandal are being forced to opt for autos as their only mode of transportation since state buses are few and far and even the ones that are available have been running packed to their capacity.
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Private bus operators from over a dozen routes in and around Calcutta have either withdrawn their vehicles or reduced their numbers because of the rising cost of fuel.
Many others are planning to do the same, unable to bear losses around the time when the transport sector is struggling to cope with the aftermath of the pandemic.
The price of diesel has increased from around Rs 65 a litre a year ago to around Rs 85. The expenses on fuel account for the biggest component of the daily expenses of running a bus.
The blow has been particularly hard for private bus operators, who do not have subsidies to fall back on unlike their government counterparts.