KOLKATA: The two-hour breather in the night curbs from Monday — the night restrictions will kick in at 11pm instead of 9pm — is set to bring relief to thousands of office-goers who use buses to return home. Till Friday, the last bus left its terminus at 5.30pm or 6pm as bus workers had to complete their round trip and get back to garages well before 9pm. Anyone failing to reach their garage was asked by police to pay a hefty fine. However, with the extra two hours, bus owners said they are confident of providing services till 10pm-10.30pm.
“The challenge for private buses plying on the north-south corridor was especially difficult. A bus plying on route 230 had to leave Kamarhati by 5.30pm or a bus plying on route 222 from Bonhooghly (Baranagar) had to leave around 5pm in order to reach Alipore Zoo and Behala Chowrasta with ample time to return to their garages on the northern fringes of the city on time. Buses going to North and South 24 Parganas were terminating routes midway,” said a bus owner. Buses on shorter routes — from north or south Kolkata to Howrah or Esplanade — set last trips around 6.30pm.
“Now that the CM has announced her decision, we are confident of providing services well past 9pm. Depending on where one stays, the last bus will reach its destination between 10om-10.30pm,” said Pradip Nasrayan Bose of the West Bengal Bus and Minibus Association.
Tapan Bandhopadhyay, secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, however, has a word of caution. “Just because there is an extension of normal activities, we will not run our entire fleet till night. We are still making losses — a reason we have given a clarion call to save mass private transport on August 14. Unless we make money, we might not change the timetable,” he said, adding that a section of long-distance passengers have shifted to bikes and cars in absence of local trains.
Kalyan Chowdhury, who travels to Shyambazar from Behala, said, “The last bus leaves between 5pm and 5.30pm. I need to stay in office till 6pm. I had to break my journey and never reached home before 8pm. I hope things change from Monday.”
“Each bus is following a separate fare structure and timing. I hope things improve on Monday,” said Saikat Mukherjee, who travels from Sealdah to Tollygunge.
