Most pvt buses stay off roads as staff get stuck

Kolkata: Private bus operators on Saturday demanded a route map avoiding the containment zones.

"We want that the state Transport department should issue a proper route map for private buses plying in the city and other districts. In many places, the buses are diverting routes on their own through lanes and bylanes due to lockdown in the containment zones to curb the spread of COVID-19," said Tapan Banerjee, general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates.

Individual apartments or buildings with COVID-19 cases are being designated as isolation units while an area having multiple positive cases is being earmarked as containment zones. The lockdown in containment zones in the state started at 5 pm on Thursday. The state government will review the situation after seven days and then decide the next course of action on lockdown.

Banerjee said that that less number of private buses plied on Saturday due to shortage of drivers and conductors.

"There are 42,000 private buses and 3,000 mini buses in the state. 6,000 private buses used to ply in Kolkata on a normal day. On Saturday, only 1,200 private buses plied in the city because most of the drivers and conductors went home in different districts after complete lockdown was announced in containment zones," he said.

Earlier, the state Transport department had already increased the bus fleet from 1300 to 1,800 to ensure hassle free journey of office goers.