[sustran] Meant to change the face of public transport, city buses today are a dying dream

Vinay Baindur yanivbin at gmail.com
Thu Jul 12 22:38:30 JST 2012


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120712/jsp/jharkhand/story_15718652.jsp

RIDE TO NOWHERE
- *Meant to change the face of public transport, city buses today are a
dying dream* Grounded: City buses stand idle at Baridih depot

*They rolled on to the roads amid much fanfare, promising commuters of
Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad a streamlined public transport system. A
project of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM),
the city buses were not only supposed to ease traffic but also keep
pollution parameters under check. Yet barely two years later, the buses are
on the verge of disappearing, plagued by problems ranging from poor
returns, lack of maintenance, frequent strikes by staff over unpaid dues to
alleged harassment from auto-rickshaw drivers and police alike. Amit
Gupta takes
a look at what ails our city buses*

*Capital*

City bus services in the capital were launched in June 2010. So far, there
have been three strikes by drivers and conductors employed by the private
agency, Ask Securities in Ranchi’s case. Of the 70 buses earmarked for the
capital, 47 are on the roads. The other vehicles are in dire need of
maintenance, while one is no more road-worthy after catching fire.

Ticket sales in Ranchi are between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,700 per day per bus,
against an expenditure of Rs 1,300 on fuel and staff dues. The buses run on
nine routes, ferrying 20,000 to 25,000 passengers daily.

*Steel city*

If the buses run in some semblance of order in the capital, the opposite
holds true in the steel city. Services in Jamshedpur began in September
2010, and since then, the buses have gone off the roads as many as 14 times
thanks to strikes by drivers and conductors, mainly over unpaid dues.

Of the sanctioned 50 vehicles, barely 15 ply the roads on eight routes,
while the rest gather dust at the Sidhgora depot.

The service is yet to make profits. While Rs 1,300 is the daily expenditure
per bus, including cost of fuel and pay of staff, daily collections rarely
exceeds Rs 1,400.

*Coal town*

Introduced in August 2010, only 20 of the designated 70 city buses ply the
streets of the coal capital.

Collections are low — barely Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 against the expenditure of
Rs 1,300, and strikes frequent. The fifth and latest strike by drivers and
conductors provided by Rider Security saw buses disappearing from the roads
on Monday evening.

*The deal*

Perennially short of manpower, Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation
(JTDC) was asked to run the city buses till management and maintenance was
taken over by respective civic bodies in Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur.

JTDC in turn outsourced day-to-day affairs to three agencies — Ask Security
in Ranchi, Capital Security Service in Jamshedpur and Rider Security in
Dhanbad. The outsourced agencies provide the bus staff and run the vehicles
on designated routes.

*The glitches*

The urban development department is in no hurry to take a decision when the
civic bodies should take over the “ailing business”. This has left JTDC in
a catch 22 situation, incurring losses and unable to pay the outsourced
agencies, leading to disruption in services.

“The reasons behind running less number of buses are frequent protests by
private bus operators, lack of support from the local administration and
lack of an effective management and monitoring system,” complained Rakesh
Kumar, manager (operations) of JTDC in Jamshedpur.

“We are short of staff. Conductors often do not give tickets printed by
JTDC to the commuters. The money goes into their pockets. The operators run
the service on their whims and fancies, rarely abiding by routes and
timings. There should be a centralised computerised system to monitor
real-time sale of tickets,” he added.

*Next move*

JTDC, meanwhile, has demanded Rs 1 crore from the urban development
department to cover losses incurred by the respective outsourced operators
and to maintain the vehicles. Sources said the urban development department
was in the process of releasing Rs 50 lakh. Last year too, the JTDC was
given Rs 50 lakh to cover losses.

JTDC managing director Sunil Kumar, however, did not sound convincing when
he spoke of improving the system. He appeared particularly concerned about
the situation in the steel city, where bus staff have had to face flak from
private operators and police alike.

“I know it comes under essential services, but the local administration in
Jamshedpur does not help. The urban development department should take over
now,” he said.

*Way forward*

The urban development department is talking to Urban Mass Transport
Company, a Union government agency, on how to go ahead with effective
maintenance and management of city bus services in the three mission cities.

“Till we make some workable arrangements to ensure the services run
smoothly in future, the onus to run it lies with JTDC,” urban development
secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said, adding it would take at least another
two months before the respective corporations took over the task of running
the buses.

*Do you think the Munda government is serious about running city buses?*
**

*Tell ttkhand at abpmail.com*


More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list