Shimla: No night bus service, locals pay through nose for taxis

Navneet Rathore

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Shimla, May 16

The lack of a bus service to the Inter-state Bus Terminal (ISBT) from Malyana at night has been giving a tough time to residents as they have to pay a hefty amount to hire taxis.

Sachin, a resident of the Malyana ward, said, “At night, taxis charge commuters between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from the ISBT to Malyana and the fare could further go up depending on the destination.” The locals also rue the lack of adequate parking facility in the ward due to which people have to park their vehicles on roadsides, which leads to traffic jams.

Ravi Thakur, another resident of the ward, said many people throw garbage in the open. Councillor Shanta Verma said the issue of the lack of a night bus service had been taken up with HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur. “We sought either the start of an HRTC taxi service to Malyana or the extension of the taxi service from Mehli to the ward. He assured us that he’d into it,” she said.

She said the sanitation staff collect garbage from houses daily and the ward areas were also cleaned regularly.