Kolkata: Beating the hot and uncomfortable weather on Sunday noon, people from different age groups and walks of life with heritage buses as their common interest gathered at Metro Cinema in Esplanade waiting for the arrival of bus of route number 52 and the last operational wooden bus of Howrah/Kolkata district belonging to route number 56.
At last, when the two buses arrived at the destination, people clamoured to get a picture and a look at the old woodwork and the exhibition, including facts, pictures and old tickets.
The Managing Director of West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) Rajanvir Singh Kapur inaugurated the exhibition and took a tour of the two buses which were decorated with posters and pictures presenting the history of buses in the city.
“We are already preserving our buses very well and we have a huge fleet of electric buses. What they are celebrating is a particular route which is 100 years old. I am here to support them,” Kapur said on the occasion.
It was organised by Kolkata bus-o-pedia along with WBTC, which also provided an AC bus for the occasion. The organisers felt that it was an overwhelming crowd. Moreover, people passing by the area also got up on the buses to take a look at the exhibition, helping the organisers achieve the aim to make people aware of the heritage routes in the city.
Route number 52 was brought from the terminus at Ramrajatala. Twenty-two buses operate in route number 52 while 18 buses operate in route number 56, according to the General Secretary of the Kolkata bus-o-pedia Aniket Banerjee.
Route 52 is plied from Ramrajatala to Esplanade via Natun Rasta, Netaji Subhas Road, Mullick Phatak, Howrah Maidan, Howrah Station, Burrabazar, BBD Bagh, and Route 56 is plied from Howrah Station to Ruiya Purbapara via Salkia, Belur, Bally, Dakhineswar, Dunlop, Rathtala, Sodepur.
“Wooden buses are a thing from the past. People hardly know about it so it’s full of nostalgia and Kolkata is a retro-kind of a city. We are still nostalgic about the trams. We like to preserve our heritage. The thing is that the trams have gotten a lot of attention. But there is a profound history of the buses of Kolkata as well,” Banerjee said.