Rohtak residents stay home in heat, 40% fall in Haryana Roadways bus travellers

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, June 1

The heatwave has taken a toll on public transportation in Rohtak district, which recorded a sharp decline of around 40 per cent in the number of passengers boarding Haryana Roadways (HR) buses in the past fortnight.

About 45,000 passengers were travelling in the roadways buses daily before May 15. With the temperatures rising, the number of passengers has now gone down up to 27,000, causing losses to the transport authorities.

“Though heatwave adversely affects the count of passengers every year by up to 15 to 20 per cent, this season, this percentage has doubled due to blistering heat conditions. People are avoiding travel if its not necessary,” said an official posted at the Rohtak Depot of Haryana Roadways.

He said a total of 171 buses were, at present, plying from Rohtak Depot to other places on long and local routes. The heatwave had adversely affected the passenger count on both routes, he said.

“This summer season, the temperatures started soaring early as compared to previous years. The number of passengers is likely to go up as soon as the temperatures start coming down during the monsoon season,” the official added. He said a total of 15,000 students travelled in roadways buses but their number was counted separately as they held passes.

Naveen Kumar, Traffic Manager at Rohtak depot of Haryana Roadways, confirmed the decline of 40 per cent in the passenger count in May, stating that only heatwave was responsible for that as a section of people were avoiding travelling in public transportation to protect them from hot weather conditions. “Though the number of passengers has declined, all buses are plying as per their schedule on all routes,” he claimed. Meanwhile, private buses have also seen a sharp dip of over 33 per cent in the passenger count.

Bijendra Dutt, district president of a private bus operators’ association, said there were more than 170 private buses that plied from Rohtak Depot on various local routes and about 42,500 passengers were travelling in the buses daily before May 15 but the figure had now come down to around 28,000.