12 state buses — that’s all with Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

With the 93 per cent of the total 160 buses included in the city bus fleet in 2010-11 going off road due to lack or poor maintenance or repair, it has reached a stage, where it is almost on the verge of closure in Faridabad. 

While sources claim that the authorities are not serious about continuing with the facility in the wake of the Smart City project, wherein it will introduce its own bus service, it is commuters, who are at the receiving end due to poor local transportation and the emergence of three-wheeler auto mafia in the city.

The city bus service of this industrial hub, which used to have 160 buses at one time, has just been left with 35 buses at present. Of the remaining, only 12 are on road as per the latest figures available. These buses are also likely to go into oblivion soon, as the department concerned does not appear to be serious about retaining or maintaining the city bus fleet, mainly due to the rising cost of maintenance and the proposal to get the city bus service under the Smart City project. The non-operation of the entire fleet of the city bus service has, however, proved costly as the department is reported to have suffered losses to the tune of Rs 20 to 25 crore in the form of revenue from the facility.

While the loss of operating the local bus facility has been persistent, the total loss in the past five to six years has shot up over to Rs 130 crore, reveal sources. 

Started in 2010-11 under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) scheme of the Union Government, the department had a fleet of around 150 buses in 2011-12. This had gone up to 160, when 10 new buses were added within a year. But according to reports, the number of buses that remained on road during the past several years had been half or less due to various factors, including lack of maintenance and shortage of staff. 

“A majority of the buses are still non-operational, as the department has neither trained mechanics nor the annual maintenance contract (AMC) with the company that supplied the buses,” an employee said. 

Lack of adequate drivers, conductors and spare parts for the buses has been responsible for making the service unable to serve the purpose, it is said. The loss that stood up at Rs 21.50 crore in 2014 shot up to Rs 35 crore in November this year, it is claimed. “Engagement of private companies for repair work and maintenance increased the running cost of the buses and thus heavy losses, since it was started,” said Ramashray Prasad Singh, general secretary, Haryana Roadways Workers’ Union. The technical or support staff strength has been left at only 51 against the required 300, he claims.

Describing the losses in the city bus service due to lack of in-house repairs and staff, officials concerned say the department was trying its best to curb losses and ensure the facility for commuters.  “This service is likely to remain till the introduction of local transport facility under the Smart City project in the near future,” said an official.

Similarly, the long route fleet which used to have 110 buses a few years ago, has reduced to just 103 buses at present. Of these, only 90 to 92 buses are operational on any given day, it is revealed. The depot which is faced with acute shortage of repair or maintenance staff will lose another 25 to 30 buses by February next year, as they will be completing their life in terms of total kilometres covered or years of operation, it is claimed. The bus depot needs at least 50 more (new) buses to ensure uninterrupted service on long routes, an employee said.

“Commuters from Palwal, Hodal and other parts of NCR face several problems due to the unavailability of city bus or other long distance buses and they have no choice but to resort to private transport mafia that had been operational with the blessings of political or influential persons,” claims Parveen Kumar, a student. “Non-availability of an efficient local transport (bus service) has also led to unchecked growth of three-wheeler auto-rickshaws which are not only unsafe, but a cause for traffic chaos on roads as well,” says SK Sharma, coordinator, Road Safety Organisation (RSO), an NGO here.  

Mool Chand Sharma, MLA, Ballabgarh, who was recently made the Transport Minister visited the General Bus Stand for supervision recently. He was told that private buses running in an unauthorised manner had been one of the causes for the losses to the department. Sharma got impounded as many as five buses, while some others managed to flee. He asked the authorities concerned to improve the public transport facility.

Bharat Bhushan Gogia, GM, Haryana Roadways, Faridabad, said: “A majority of the buses lying out of order have been declared as condemned due to huge cost of repair involved. We are looking towards the start of city bus service under the Smart City project.”

Residents’ wait to end soon?

• The Faridabad Smart City Limited (FSCL) has announced to start a city bus service in December this year. It will be a huge relief for commuters, who are fed up with the rickety and dwindling number of city buses being run by the Haryana Roadways. 
• Revealing the details of the project, a spokesperson of the FSCL, said: “The new city bus service will be run by Faridabad City Transport Service Limited (FCTSL), a separate agency instituted by the state government.  As many as 90 buses will start in the first phase of the facility to be launched in December this year. The city will get a total of 595 buses by 2031 as per the plan prepared by the FCTSL.” Monika Gupta, CEO, FCTSL, said: “While the city buses will be known as Midi buses, each of it will have a carrying capacity of 42 passengers at a time.  While all buses will be running on eco-friendly CNG, a total of 40 buses which will be air-conditioned will also serve as feeder buses to various metro rail stations in the city.” The rest of the 50 buses that will be plying on the city roads will be non-air-conditioned, it is reported. 
• FCTSL will soon start the work on laying  or developing the basic infrastructure like the bus stops (bus shelters) and  bus terminals across the city, so that the  bus service could be effectively launched in due time.  With two terminals proposed in Sectors-12 and 61, it will have a minimum of 310 bus shelters that will be developed in PPP mode. A budget of Rs 463 crore meant for the service will not be taken out from the budget of the smart city project, but separately generated under the PPP mode. As per details, Rs 163 crores will be provided by the state government while the rest of the funds (Rs 300 crore) will be generated through private partnership. The buses will be operated by a private company.