Bhubaneswar: After the State Government lifts bus restrictions across the country, up from 20 previous districts, private bus operators start running buses in 10 newly allowed districts on Monday.
However, only 10 percent of personal buses were seen running in 10 of these districts on the first day.
Intra-state public transportation starts from Monday in Nayagarh, Khurda (including Bhubaneswar City), Cuttack, Puri, JajatSinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balalasore and Mayurbhanj.
Bus services to the city of Puri will remain suspended until midnight July 25 because of the ongoing Rath Yatra Festival.
Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) will run the bus in these districts from Tuesday.
Usually the biggest bus holder in Baramunda in Bhubaneswar gets around 800 buses per day during pre-covid time, but gets around 80 buses on Monday.
“I have around 15 buses, but only three buses are plying on the first day.
Even in these three buses, we got very little number of passengers.
We got a bad response from the passengers,” said Surendra Mohanty, a bus owner.
Debendra Kumar Sahoo, Secretary General of all the Association of Odisha bus owners, said the bus was outside the road because of the limitation of Covid-19 which was put into effect by the government since May 5, why many of these vehicles needed maintenance.
“Some bus owners are waiting for bus drivers, conductors, and helpers to return.
So we will take a week to run most of the bus,” he added.
Sahoo said they had around 14,000 buses throughout the state.
“About 40 percent of the bus ran in 20 districts with a low Covid case.
Because of Covid’s fear, many people don’t come out.
That’s why the bus becomes a bad response.
Gradually it will also take steps,” he added.
It was seen that some buses on Bus Badambadi standing in Cuttack did not implement Covid-19 guidelines in letters and spirits.
Passengers do not stand in the queue with sufficient gaps between two passengers before entering the bus.
Some of them don’t wear face masks correctly.
“Somehow it can be managed to maintain Covid norms on the bus because fewer people travel by bus now.
After a week, the number of passengers will increase and the passengers and buses will forget Covid norms.
The right inspection must be done to ensure the implementation of the guidelines Covid on the bus, “said Sitaram Muduli, a cuttack resident.
However, MO services were run by the capital city of urban transportation (crut) in the capital city of Bhubaneswar and neighboring cities Cuttack and Khurda received a good response on the first day.
87 of 220 bus plying at 16 routes Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Khurda.
Some buses received 80 percent of passengers on Monday, official source said.