Brace for two-day bus strike

KOLKATA: Commuters and Puja shoppers alike are set to face a harrowing Thursday and Friday, with most buses scheduled to go off road to protest against the government's decision not to raise fares.

The operators claim that without a fare hike, their trade has become completely unviable. The government, on the other hand, has ruled out any immediate possibility of a hike.

Transport minister Madan Mitra said on Wednesday that the government would run its full fleet in order to foil the impact of the strike.

"Moreover, a section of bus operators belonging to the Bengal Bus Syndicate (BBS) has refrained from taking part in the strike," Mitra said. "Taxis and autos will ply. So, there would not be much of a problem." He added that 100 buses would be kept on reserve at depots to divert them wherever needed, according to passengers' demand.

Mitra also urged Trinamool workers to inform the administration wherever they find buses parked illegally, occupying road space.

The reality, however, is that Kolkata is overwhelmingly dependent on buses. The government buses (five state transport corporations taken together) carry 15.6 lakh passengers, against 42.8 lakh passengers that private buses carry. "So, even the full fleet of government buses will hardly be able to compensate the absence of a large chunk of private buses," said a senior transport department officer.

Tapan Banerjee, of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, said: "Nearly 7,000 buses in the city and 30,000 in the districts will go off road. We are being forced to do it as we have been bleeding heavily because of a massive hike in cost of operation. The fare hike is the only option left to us to ensure the survival of the trade."

Since the last fare hike, the price of diesel has risen by Rs 6.87 per litre on 10 successive occasions.

TOI did a quick survey to estimate how many buses may ply on Thursday and Friday. On a conservative estimate, 1,700 buses are set to ply, compared with the regular strength of 7,500 on the city's 83 routes. So, passengers are bound to suffer long queues. Moreover, each bus would most likely be packed to capacity.

CSTC managing director Prasanna Kumar Mandal said: "Four hundred of our buses will be plying in the city. On an average, 350 to 380 buses from our stable ply per day across the state." CSTC officials said that a number of buses that generally ply in the districts will also run in the city. "There is likely to be a lot of breakdowns, as a large number of 'condemned buses' is also set to ply," said a source.

The Calcutta Tramways Company ( CTC) managing director Nilanjan Sandilya said: "CTC will run 225 buses and 125 trams as against 200 buses and 125 on a regular day."

WBSTC will run 130 buses in the city. Bengal Bus Syndicate, which has refrained from taking part in the strike, claimed that at least 3,000 private buses would ply.

Bengal Bus Syndicate vice-president Dipak Sarkar said: "We want to give the government a little more time. We want to keep the channel of communication with the government open."

I don't understand why the Bengal government is so scared of allowing bus fares to rise.

Probably it is the fear of history when the communist party burnt a number of trams because of a 1 paisa increase in tram fare.

Buses are privately run and the owners would like to make some profits.

Why can't the government devise a formula for automatic increase or decrease in bus / taxi fares every three months based on the average price of diesel in the previous three months.

The oil companies have now started increasing their prices regularly and the bus owners have to pay whatever prices the oil companies decide.

The government should sit with the bus owners and decide the effect each one Rupee increase/decrease in price of diesel have on running the buses and can allow the increase or decrease when it affects the running of buses by more than a rupee.

This way, the bus owners would be happy and commuters would not have to suffer.

Mamata Banerjee does not enhance her popularity by stubbornly resisting fare increase and causing endless hardship to commuters when the commuters themselves realize that increase in bus fare is unavoidable because of increase in the price of diesel.