Women find travel on CTU buses nothing short of ordeal
Amit Bathla
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 26
Travelling on local Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses is a tough task for women passengers as men stubbornly occupy seats reserved for them.
Lack of awareness among women commuters, adamant attitude of their male counterparts and non-cooperation of conductors have kept this serious issue alive.
Also, improper marking of seats reserved for women in CTU buses is the key reason behind the never-ending problem.
In most CTU buses, The Tribune found that “She” stickers behind seats reserved for women were not in place.
Men refuse to vacate reserved seats
Akanksha Chaudhary (24), who resides in Panchkula and takes CTU buses to commute in the tricity said, “Despite taking help from conductors, women don’t get seats reserved for them. Once I argued with a male passenger, but he refused to vacate the seat. We have to encounter such people every day.”
Naveen (name changed), 25-year-old conductor, said, “We avoid requesting such men to vacate seats reserved for women as it turns into an altercation. Even lack of awareness among women is an issue.”
Reserve more seats for women
The issue of security for women during everyday commute also persists as many have expressed concerns regarding their safety. Though Surbhi Sharma (24) is not from UT, knows the city very well. She urged the CTU authorities to increase the number of seats reserved for women in buses.
Issue spirals during peak hours
Especially during the peak hours, the problem becomes severe as most women passengers have to travel standing among a crowd of males.
No time to ensure seats for women in buses
On being asked what he usually does to ensure that women get seats reserved for them, a conductor in a bus heading towards Zirakpur gave a shocking answer. He said, “I don’t have time to guarantee that women get seats reserved for them.” A majority of conductors don’t even know how many seats are reserved for women in CTU buses.
Men prefer to sit on reserved seats
Another conductor Rupinder (26) said, “It totally depends on the attitude of male passengers. Despite vacant seats at the back of buses, men take seats reserved for women.”
CTU fleet strength has 413 buses
The CTU website shows that 413 buses run on local and suburban routes. While long buses have eight seats reserved for women, midi or smaller ones have just four seats. In terms of total number of seats, long buses have 32 seats and midi buses have 20 seats. These figures include a seat for conductor too. Officials of the CTU were not available for their comment on the issue.
