The number of women passengers travelling by private buses has come down drastically. Only a few were spotted on private buses operating from Shivamogga on Tuesday.
“The bus to Sagar from Shivamogga left the bus stand without a single woman passenger,” said Ashok, a booking agent at the private bus stand in Shivamogga. A woman who landed at the private bus stand by mistake asked the booking agents how to reach the KSRTC bus stand and left in search of a KSRTC bus to her destination. There were hardly any women passengers in the private stand.
“Why will they come here, when the government is offering them free travel facilities?” The scheme is beneficial for them, but it snatches away our food,” said Mr. Ashok, who has been working as a booking agent for private buses for the last 25 years.
Many agents felt that since Sunday, there had been hardly any women passengers in the buses. “KSRTC has no services in Tirthahalli taluk. Those travelling to Konandur from Shivamogga used to travel by private buses earlier. However, now they take the KSRTC bus up to Tirthahalli, and from there they take a private bus to reach Konandur. We are losing income on all routes,” said Veeresh, also an agent.
Worst hit
Around 400 private buses operate in Shivamogga district. The private bus operators depend on seat booking agents at each bus stop to fill up the seats. Of the total collection at the bus stop, the agents get a commission of around 6%. If the bus owner collects ₹1,000 at one stop, the agent gets ₹60.
“We earn around ₹500 to ₹600 a day in the form of commission. If there are no passengers to travel with, we will not get our commission. Soon, we all will lose our earnings,”, said Ravi, who is also secretary of Shivamogga Automobile Workers’ Association.
Expressing his anger over the Shakti scheme, Mr. Ravi said: “The people in power are not spending money from their pockets to run the scheme. I would appreciate it if those who declared assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees in their election affidavit, contributed a few crores of rupees for the scheme. But they are taking somebody’s earnings to pay for the scheme,” he alleged.
The private bus operators have experienced a substantial decrease in their earnings. “All our buses are running with empty seats. The owners cannot bear the burden for too long. They will surrender the buses to avoid paying taxes”, said Rangappa R., president of Shivamogga Bus Operators’ Association.
