Faridabad-Chandigarh bus service resumes; less than 5 onboard
Tribune News Service
Faridabad, September 16
The Haryana Roadways on Wednesday resumed its bus service from here to Chandigarh after a five-and-a-half-month hiatus triggered by the Covid pandemic, even though the number of passengers was fewer in all four buses that plied during the day.
“Not more than five passengers travelled in each of the four buses. The reason behind low occupancy is that Haryana Roadways has not received permission to enter New Delhi, an important stop. The buses will be taking only the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) route. Hence, several important stops will be missed,” an employee at the local bus depot said.
In the pre-Covid times, he said, the occupancy was at least 50 per cent.
The first bus left the local depot at 4.50 am and the last one departed at 10 am. All four buses were back here by 11 pm. This will be the schedule till further orders.
The bus service was halted in the last week of March following the Covid-induced lockdown. When the Centre started to ease the restrictions, the bus service resumed on shorter routes on June 3, but that on long and interstate routes remained suspended.
Rajeev Nagpal, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, said: “The Roadways bus service to Jaipur, Aligarh and Agra has already resumed. Now, Chandigarh has been added to the list. Gradually, we will be back to full capacity.”
He admitted the passenger occupancy had been low. “The permission to ply buses via New Delhi is awaited,” he added.
Of the 105 buses at the bus depot, only 65 are plying. The depot is incurring a daily loss of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, sources say.
