With the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) deploying its buses for election duty, commuters had a tough time on Wednesday to get public transport.
The BMTC had said that in view of the elections on May 10, it had deployed a substantial number of buses for election duty to the district administration and the Police Department. It had said that due to this, there could be disruption in the operation of bus services.
With lesser number of buses on the road, many had to rely on autorickshaws and cabs. However, many autorickshaws and cabs were also off the road as drivers had gone to their native places to cast their vote.
A resident of Basavanagudi, Ramesh P. could not book a ride on the app-based cab aggregators despite multiple attempts. “I tried in vain for more than two hours to book a cab and then took an autorickshaw to reach my workplace. Finding an auto was also not easy as there were very few of them operating on Wednesday,” said Mr. Ramesh.
S.S. Vikas, who tried to book a cab from Banashankari, said there were no cabs available and the only option available with the taxi aggregators was autorickshaw. “The fare which was reflected on the apps was exorbitant. For a ride from Banashankari to the CBD, they were charging ₹450,” said Mr. Vikas.
