Vikramaditya & John Wilbert
Port Blair, July 14: Recently dozens of electric buses have been introduced in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an aim to lower overall fuel consumption and also to minimize carbon footprint in these Islands.
Although the electric buses look elegant but as it is said, looks can be deceptive. A ride in these electric buses might make a hole in passenger’s pocket.
As per details collected by Andaman Sheekha team, a trip to Chouldari from Port Blair one has to pay Rs. 35 as fare while for Tushnabad and Jirkatang one has to pay Rs.50 and Rs. 85 respectively.
Whereas, in normal STS buses, these rates are only Rs.20, Rs. 29 and Rs. 49 respectively.
This means for a daily wage earner, for a trip from Tushnabad to Port Blair and return, the fare will be Rs. 50 + Rs. 50 =Rs. 100.
Since March 2020, thousands of people have been struggling without a job and many are even finding it difficult to arrange daily bread, under these circumstances such high fare in electric buses is unacceptable.
One must also consider that the electric buses do not require any fuel and hence there is no fuel cost. Hence the fare should have been half of the normal STS Non- AC buses but charging almost double than Non- AC STS buses is objectionable.
When contacted a senior officer of Transport Department said that the fares are fixed as per the existing AC (White Compact Traveler) bus fares.
“We are aware about this issue but till now we have not received any written complaint from anyone in this regard. If we receive any complaint, we will take up this matter with senior officers, because bus fares are decided by them,” said an officer of Transport Department, on the condition of anonymity.
One wonders whether fixing bus fare for common man is such a complex process and requires a written complaint. Isn’t it the responsibility of Andaman and Nicobar Administration to think about welfare of all Islanders without waiting for complaints from public.
The Administration must think of reducing the AC electric bus fares to half and double the number of AC Electric buses in Andaman. If this is done more and more people will opt for AC electric buses than their own vehicle for daily movement. This will certainly reduce pressure of vehicles on Andaman roads and also reduce the number of daily accidents.
