kolkata fewer than half the number of buses sanctioned for kolkata are presently on road making daily commute not only more expensive but also more timeconsuming for the average kolkatan especially during the morning and evening peak hourstwo factors taken together have made the business unviable for bus operators said experts and operators alike the first is stricter pollution control norms which necessitates replacing morethan15yearold public transport vehicles with more expensive bsvi buses the second is an absence of a fare hike in spite of steep multiple revisions in fuel priceof 5583 buses sanctioned on kolkatas 303 routes only 2757 or 49 less than half are plying with several routes left without a single bus kolkata is a bus city the same way mumbai is a train city said transport economist aniruddha kar adding the citys public mobility is bound to get crippled if everythings not alright with the bus systemkolkatas key public transport suffered its worst blow during the pandemic and the ensuing restrictions and even as life swung back to normalcy 50 of the citys bus fleet failed to come back things have come to such a pass that there was only one bus registered with the public vehicles department pvd in 2022private bus operators have lost the confidence to make fresh investments as the returns are too little travel time has gone up say commuters bus operators are wary of making fresh investments as the returns are too low i bought a bsiv bus in 2017 at rs 11 lakh if i want to buy a bsvi bus now it will cost rs 19 lakh there is no certainty of even recovering costs said titu saha general secretary city suburban bus servicesthe last time bus fares were officially revised was in 2018 when diesel price was rs 68 60 per litre diesel now costs rs 92 76 per litre but fares are the same over 2021 and 2022 as many as 1313 buses were phased out for crossing the 15year age limit this year and2024 as many as 2729 buses will meet the same fate with no replacement the situation is getting worse said tapan banerjee general secretary joint council of bus syndicates transport minister snehasis chakraborty said the government especially cm mamata banerjee was averse to passing on the fuel hike burden on to citizens state transport undertakings stu are increasing the number of buses quite rapidly shortly nearly 1200 ebuses will ease the trouble faced by commuters he added stus have also reduced the number of buses on the road by a significant number nonavailability of alternative cheaper fuel through a robust supply chain has also made the bus trade unattractive cng is still being brought in caskets limiting its availability to a few stations saha saidthe end sufferers are commuters we are now spending nearly threefour times what we used to in early 2020 said aniket banerjee founder of kolkata busopedia an online resource about busrelated information travel time has gone up significantly he