PANJIM: The director of the Department of Transport Mr Arun Desai, on Tuesday said that more than 80 per cent of the private buses are overcrowded at the bus terminus, contrary to the claims by the All Goa Bus Owners Association (AGBOA), that the buses are suffering losses as the public refuse to enter buses once the seats are occupied.
Mr Desai said that the department has observed that the buses get overcrowded at the bus terminus itself, leaving no room for en-route passengers, which results in the buses getting overcrowded way beyond capacity.
He said that the bus owners association had claimed that they are suffering losses as the public refuse to enter buses once the seats are occupied. He said that the department is observing the movement of public transport on various routes, to determine if more buses are required on these routes, to ease the overloading.
He said that the department has taken the first steps towards zero tolerance to overcrowding of buses, by launching a state-wide awareness drive. The drive has been launched at Panjim. He said that the department is not penalising the offenders, but only keeping a record of the statistics, along with the signature of the drivers and conductors of the buses violating the laws. He said that the drive will be launched in Margao and Mapusa in the next couple of days before deciding on future course of action.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Kadamba Transport Corporation, Mr Deepak Dhavlikar, on Tuesday said that the KTC will extend support to the transport department’s drive to zero tolerance to over-crowding. He said that the KTC buses get over-crowded only during peak hours, and that the KTC will issue a notification for additional buses on these routes.
Mr Dhavlikar said, “The laws have to be followed and if the KTC buses are getting over crowded then we have to cooperate with the department. We will look into the various routes and act accordingly.”
5 comments:
When are the buses in Goa never overcrowded ? One must take into account the growth of the population for a small state. These Mega housing colonies are no help either as they increase the Non Goan population. I have never travelled by buses in Goa but what little information I have, there is a lot of room for improvement. With better survey the transport system could improve.
Diogo... like you say, there is a lot of room for improvement and if these bus operators find that room, they will dump more passengers in there.
Most of the accidents in Goa are caused by frequent stopping anywhere by these buses without indication. The Gua policea nd RTA knows this well. But, when they are already fixed through HAFTA, who will catch them? They have created nuisance on the roads for ages and are free to do so in the future.
I have a simple question to the Director of Transport which he should ask the Minister of Transport and the Chairman of Kadamba.
THE QUESTION IS: If the private buses are always full and they should be making huge profits, then why has Kadamba Transport Corporation always made a loss since its inception? That too losses amounting to crores of rupees every year?
And please don't give me the answer of saying that they cater to routes which the private bus owners don't want to operate. Private buses operate on each and every route.
What about the long serpentine queues at Margao Bus Stand with people waiting for hours for boarding the Kadamba shuttle service to Panaji? Can the Kadamba authorities not take remedial measures to stop harassment to the travelling public?
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