Commuters have started facing the problem of non-availability of public transport facility in Srinagar city in the evenings. It gets further aggravated as the autumn comes to an end and winter begins. The problem is not new.
It has been there for long, and no effort was made in past to solve the problem; and no efforts are in sight right now for its solution. Consequently, the people who travel in evening hours will have to continuously bear the brunt.
They are the people returning to their respective homes from their work places as also the people who are out for some kind of personal work. Immediately after the evening the mini buses and sumos, the main constituents of public transport in the city, start disappearing from the roads.
The small number of mini buses operating are already over-loaded and unable to accommodate the large number of passengers waiting on bus stops. The number of auto-rickshaws also gets reduced on the roads in the evening. Most of the auto-rickshaw drivers, working in the evening, allegedly over-charge.
The concerned authorities must seriously pay attention towards the non-availability of public transport in the evenings. A mechanism must be developed by taking transporters into confidence so that the people do not suffer for the want of transport.
Efforts should be made to run the mini buses and sumos till late evening hours. The services should be made to the commuters at the earliest. The frequency of such services must be increased on important roads.
It is not that the public transport disappears in evening only, even during day hours there is acute shortage of public transport on several routes. Hardly any mini bus or sumo service operates in these areas. People say that they have brought the issue into the notice of transporters and the authorities several times but nothing was done.
They allege that taking advantage of the problem most auto-rickshaw drivers are fleecing them. The authorities must make operative the mini bus and sumo services on such routes so that the people do not suffer unnecessarily.
The office goers and people going out for work face lot of difficulties in such conditions.
It has been seen that there is heavy rush of mini buses and sumos during day hours on some routes, while other routes are completely neglected.
The authorities must ensure that these routes are not neglected and commuters on such routes get the desired public transport facility.
