Amid rising COVID cases in Vadodara, the number of travellers in city buses has dropped from 1.25 lakh to 15,000.

The number of passengers traveling in city buses in Vadodara has come down drastically due to the rising number of Corona cases in Vadodara. From 1.25 lakh passengers before the second wave of the virus, the number has now come down to 15,000.

Narendrasinh Rana, manager of Vinayak Urban Bus Service, which provides bus services to the citizens of Vadodara city, said, “The number of city bus passengers is decreasing day by day due to the increasing number of corona cases. This has resulted in an economic blow to them.”

Narendrasinh affirmed that the buses are being operated in line with the government’s safety guidelines. Yet, the passengers are nervous about traveling in the city bus because of the panic due to Coronavirus.

Despite the dwindling number of passengers, the Urban Bus Service has not made any reductions in bus routes. Although cases seem to be rising incessantly, they are running 120 buses on 61 routes. It has, now, become difficult to pay the salaries of bus drivers as buses on various routes have started to go empty.

According to their own survey, only about 15,000 passengers have traveled in the last eight days. If such a situation persists in the coming days, the possibility of shutting down city buses cannot be ruled out.

The once-bustling bus depot now draws a sorry image. Passengers prefer to travel in their private vehicles or auto-rickshaws instead of sitting in a bus.