Commuters okay with bus fare hike

Kolkata: Commuters are ready to accept the hike in the fare of buses and mini buses and requested the private bus owners to improve their service.

Suman Gupta, a resident of Tollygunge, said the hike in bus fare is not arbitrary but the private bus owners should improve service.

Gupta, who regularly goes to Barasat in North 24-Parganas by private bus on Barasat–Baruipur route, said: "In the past one month the service in the evening began to fall with the curtailment of the number of buses. The owners have drastically brought down the number of buses from afternoon. There is tremendous pressure on the passengers as a result."

"My suggestion is that in such cases, the owners should divide the routes to give some relief to the passengers," Gupta added.

Paran Sardar, who comes to Kolkata from Canning everyday, said: "The hike will affect long distance passengers, but the state government did not have any other option. The Centre should understand the plight of common people and reduce the price of diesel."

Sumita Banerjee, who teaches in a private school, said: "The hike is going to affect common people, but the way the price of diesel is going up is really alarming. Also, the price of cooking gas has gone up as well. The victims are the middle class people. But the hike of Rs 1 is acceptable."

It may be mentioned that the bus fare was last hiked in 2014, four years ago. In the past four years, despite the hike in the price of fuel, the state government had requested the bus owners not to hike the fare as it would affect the common people dearly.