Covid-finance knockout combo cripples Kolkata’s private bus sector – Times of India

KOLKATA: Fewer than half the number of buses sanctioned for Kolkata are presently on road, making daily commute not only more expensive, but also more time-consuming for the average Kolkatan, especially during the morning and evening peak hours.

Two factors, taken together, have made the business unviable for bus operators, said experts and operators alike: the first is stricter pollution control norms, which necessitates replacing more-than-15-year-old public transport vehicles with more expensive BS-VI buses; the second is an absence of a fare hike, in spite of steep, multiple revisions in fuel price.
Of 5,583 buses sanctioned on Kolkata’s 303 routes, only 2,757 (or 49%, less than half) are plying, with several routes left without a single bus. “Kolkata is a bus city the same way Mumbai is a train city,” said transport economist Aniruddha Kar, adding, “The city’s public mobility is bound to get crippled if everything’s not alright with the bus system.”
Kolkata’s key public transport suffered its worst blow during the pandemic, and the ensuing restrictions. And even as life swung back to normalcy, 50% of the city’s bus fleet failed to come back. Things have come to such a pass that there was only one bus registered with the Public Vehicles Department (PVD) in 2022.
Private bus operators have lost the confidence to make fresh investments, as the retu-rns are too little.
Travel time has gone up, say commuters
Bus operators are wary of making fresh investments, as the returns are too low. “I bought a BS-IV bus in 2017 at Rs 11 lakh. If I want to buy a BS-VI bus now, it will cost Rs 19 lakh. There is no certainty of even recovering costs,” said Titu Saha, general secretary, City Suburban Bus Services.
The last time bus fares were officially revised was in 2018, when diesel price was Rs 68. 60 per litre. Diesel now costs Rs 92. 76 per litre, but fares are the same. Over 2021 and 2022, as many as 1,313 buses were phased out for crossing the 15-year age limit. This year and2024, as many as 2,729 buses will meet the same fate.
“With no replacement, the situation is getting worse,” said Tapan Banerjee, general secretary, Joint Council of Bus Syndicates. Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said the government, especially CM Mamata Banerjee, was averse to passing on the fuel hike burden on to citizens. “State transport undertakings (STU) are increasing the number of buses quite rapidly. Shortly, nearly 1,200 e-buses will ease the trouble faced by commuters,” he added. STUs have also reduced the number of buses on the road by a significant number. Non-availability of alternative, cheaper fuel through a robust supply chain has also made the bus trade unattractive. CNG is still being brought in caskets, limiting its availability to a few stations, Saha said.
The end sufferers are commuters. “We are now spending nearly threefour times what we used to in early 2020,” said Aniket Banerjee, founder of Kolkata Bus-o-pedia, an online resource about bus-related information. “Travel time has gone up significantly,” he added. “After 9pm, it is impossible to find a bus,” said Amardeep Singh, who works at a medicine shop. Transport expert Anumita Roychowdhury, who’s the executive director of Centre for Science and Environment, said Kolkata was fast losing its status of a “public transport city”. “The city will face the same fate as of Bengaluru, where a sea of cars gets city traffic choked. Kolkata is adding around 86. 6 thousand vehicles every year. ”