Poor response to bus service as it resumes in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: After the state government lifted restrictions on buses across the state, up from 20 districts earlier, the private bus operators started running buses in the new newly allowed 10 districts on Monday. However, only 10 percent private buses were seen running in these 10 districts on the first day.
Intra-state public transport was started from Monday in Nayagarh, Khurda (including Bhubaneswar city), Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. Bus services to Puri town will remain suspended till midnight of July 25 because of the ongoing Rath Yatra festival. Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) will run buses in these districts from Tuesday.
Normally the largest bus stand of the state at Baramunda in Bhubaneswar was getting around 800 buses per day during pre-Covid times, but it got around 80 buses on Monday. “I have around 15 buses, but only three buses were plying on the first day. Even in these three buses, we got very few numbers of passengers. We got poor response from the passengers,” said Surendra Mohanty, a bus owner.
Debendra Kumar Sahoo, general secretary of All Odisha Bus Owners Association, said buses were off road because of Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the government since May 5, that’s why many of these vehicles need maintenance. “Some of the bus owners are waiting for bus drivers, conductors and helpers to return. So, we will take a week to run most of the buses,” he added.
Sahoo said they have around 14,000 buses across the state. “Around 40 per cent of buses are running in 20 districts with low Covid cases. Because of the Covid fear, many people are not coming out. That’s why buses are getting poor response. Gradually it will also pick up the pace,” he added.
It was seen that some buses at Badambadi bus stand in Cuttack were not implementing the Covid-19 guidelines in letter and spirit. Passengers were not standing in queues with sufficient gap between two passengers before entering buses. Some of them were not properly wearing the face masks.
“It is somehow manageable to maintain Covid norms in buses because less people are travelling in buses now. After a week, the number of passengers will increase and both passengers and buses will forget about Covid norms. Proper checking should be done to ensure implementation of Covid guidelines in buses,” said Sitaram Muduli, a Cuttack resident.
However, Mo Service run by the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) within the capital city of Bhubaneswar and its neighbouring cities of Cuttack and Khurda received good response on the first day. As many as 87 out of 220 buses were plying in 16 routes of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Khurda. Some buses received as many as 80 per cent passengers on Monday, official sources said.
Inspired By