City Correspondent
GUWAHATI, March 26: Commuters had a tough time on Friday as hundreds of city buses were requisitioned for election duty in the neighbouring areas.
Over 500 city buses were requisitioned and taken away to places like Jagiroad and Nellie today. In fact, the trend of the inadequacy of buses in the city has been conspicuous for the past few days.
Although more than 1,000 buses are registered with the District Transport Office here, not all of them are functional. A top official of the transport department said
the commuters’ woes would continue till April 6.
Commuters had to wait for long periods to catch buses. “This sudden drop in the number of buses has put people like me in deep crisis. For the last two days, I have had to struggle for space even to stand inside a city bus,” Biki Phukan, a resident of Ganeshguri said. “Moreover, I had to wait for more than half an hour to board a bus today. Women struggle the most in city buses,” he added.
“Fares of Ola and Uber app cabs also were increased by Rs 40 to Rs 50 because of insufficiency of city buses,” another commuter, Sheela Bora said.
“City buses were very few in number today. I had to wait for more than 50 minutes to board a bus at Ganeshguri. For the last three days I have been suffering due to the insufficient number of city buses. Ola and Uber app cabs are also limited in number. Taking advantage of the situation, autorickshaws doubled their normal fare today,” Ananta Kalita, a resident of Hengrabari said.
Meanwhile, All Assam Motor Transport Association (AAMTA) secretary general Pradip Das said, “Less than 100 buses are now plying on the city routes. People will have to suffer till the elections are over.”
