Commuters stay away from public transport

Our Correspondent

UNA, JUNE 5

The first phase of Covid Unlock began on June 1. The same day, state-owned Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) began its skeletal services but all routes are running into losses as people are not using the public transport system for the fear of picking up contamination. The Una depot of the HRTC began bus services on 41 routes, of which 35 are local routes within the district and the remaining six are to other districts in the state. Private transporters have not been allowed to begin services, just as inter-state movement of state transport buses is yet to commence.

As per information, the six inter-district bus routes from Una include two daily trips to Kangra and one each to Dharamsala, Shimla, Hamirpur and Baddi. Bus services on 35 local routes link important junctions in all Zila Parishad wards. However, there are very few takers for public transport and buses remain almost empty during journeys, said the Regional Manager of the Una depot. Citing an example, he said on Monday, a 96-km to and fro journey from Una to Kodhra in Bangana sub-division fetched a revenue of just about Rs 500. He said even the inter-district routes were incurring huge losses.