End of an era: At the age of 98, bus route 3 walks into sunset

Kolkata: Bus route 3, the last existing bus route connecting Kolkata with Hooghly via GT Road has recently walked into the sunset at the age of 98. The last ceremonial journey from Serampore to Dakshineswar (a curtailed journey), which started way back in 1927, took place on December 17.

The bus that originally used to run between Serampore and Bagbazar was extended to Salt Lake to cater to the demand of the IT sector. It covered areas like Serampore, Rishra, Konnagar, Uttarpara through GT Road to reach Kolkata. At its peak, it had a fleet strength of 69. Sudip Goswami, who has been operating the lone bus on this route for the past five years, said that he tried his best to complete a 100-year journey for the route. Despite being the bus owner, he also worked as the conductor of the bus just to ensure the route did not die.

“But situations have been worse ever since the Covid and the number of passengers has dwindled. My driver was insisting on joining route number 285 that travels from Serampore to Sector V via Dakshineswar and Airport and finally, I had to let him go for a better living,” he said, adding that it is the only bus route having 17 to 18 buses plying.

The other bus routes of GT road, Hooghly, which are extinct or on the verge of extinction following Covid are number 4 (Memari to Chinsurah), number 8 (Kalna to Chinsurah), 31 (Jangipara to Serampore ), 12 ( Tarakeswar to Serampore ), 2 ( Chinsurah to Dakshineswar), 54/2 (Rishra to Howrah Station), 225( Bhagabatipur to Dakhineswar via Dankuni, Uttarpara), 1 (Chinsurah Station to Chinsurah Court with 1 bus running only) and 214 (Serampore to Domjur).

The government buses that have stopped operating are D3 (Chinsurah to Salt Lake), D4 (Serampore to Salt Lake), D4/1 (Serampore to Shyambazar) and D33 (Esplanade

to Chandannagar).

Passengers attributed the mushrooming of totos and autorickshaws in various routes as the reasons behind this winding up.