Buses fined for fleecing passengers in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Ten teams of motor vehicle inspectors on Friday swung into action against alleged overcharging by city buses. They raided 150 buses and the drivers and conductors were let off with a warning and a fine. The police, too, intercepted buses for overcharging, including at Strand Road-MG Road crossing, Esplanade, Ruby Crossing and Ultadanga. Challans or fines of Rs 100 were slapped on the erring vehicles.

On Friday evening, cops warned of stricter charges — compounding of fines that amount to breaking contract carriage provisions — which could carry a penalty of Rs 3,000 and even permit cancellation in case of repeat offence.Cops said their personnel were asking passengers for feedback.
“If passengers say they are facing no problem, we are letting the buses go after distributing masks to those not wearing them. But if passengers say they are being overcharged, we are ensuring that both driver and conductor apologize and return the extra money. If we merely let them off with just a fine, they are likely to pass that on to the bus owners,” said an officer. Police said complaints of excessive charges dropped in frequency on Friday compared to Thursday.
DC (traffic) Rupesh Kumar acted on a social media alert late on Thursday where Twitter user Mayank Aggarwal posted about violation of the social distancing rule on a bus on route L238 near Ultadanga crossing. Kumar later tweeted the extra passengers were asked to alight soon after.
“The bus was intercepted on Vivekananda Road’s west-bound flank near Maniktala Bazar and the extra passengers were asked to alight,” he said.
The absence of enough public transport has led to an explosion of two wheelers on the road. “Special naka checks are on against two wheelers. We have managed to repair 75%-80% of our traffic signals, which is helping us free up more men from the crossings to be part of special raids on buses and bikes,” said an officer.
The slow return of private buses has also left a demand-supply gap in public transportation. The public transportation crisis may deepen on Monday when workplaces start functioning with 100% staff. On Friday, the number of private buses on the road was lower than that of Thursday, leading to several passengers being stranded despite near full-scale operation of WBTC buses. WBTC buses were regular but in Kolkata, private buses function as the backbone of public transportation.
The Public Vehicles Department’s repeated threats of annulling permits proved no deterrent against non-plying of buses. Since private buses ferry 42 lakh passengers a day, compared to 16 lakh by STUs, the absence of private buses has left a gap impossible to be bridged by other modes of transport.