No room for social distancing as buses run crowded across state

Chennai: Despite assurances from the state government that bus frequency will be increased based on demand, many buses in Tamil Nadu remained overcrowded on Wednesday, with social distancing gone for a toss. Tamil Nadu witnessed the first case of a bus driver being infected with Covid-19 on Tuesday.

The infected employee was driving a bus on the Tiruvannamalai-Cuddalore route, in which 140 passengers had travelled.

On Wednesday, in some areas like Bodi in Theni district and Pollachi in Coimbatore district, passengers, who waited for long at bus stands, resorted to minor protests demanding that more services be run.

Though the government promised that 50% of buses will be operated, only 30% were out on the roads, multiple sources confirmed to TOI. The transport department, however, was unavailable to comment on it.

Conductors too had a tough time in stopping excess passengers from boarding the buses.

“We have been instructed to drop and pick up passengers at intermediate bus stops. If there are 10 passengers waiting at one such stop for more than an hour, will they listen to us if we say only two seats were vacant? Eventually, we were forced to carry on despite risks of getting infected,” said Siva, a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) conductor .

K Arumugam Nainar from CITU-affiliated state transport union, said Wednesday being an auspicious day for marriages saw more than the anticipated crowd arriving at bus stops and that local authorities didn’t respond appropriately. “Now that the government has allowed most shops and factories to run, more people will depend on buses to travel to work and back home as trains are not operated. So there is no point holding back on 50% of the bus fleet,” he added.

In response, a state transport department official said managing directors of all transport corporations and branch managers were given powers to operate more buses to avoid crowding and that scenarios as Wednesday’s will be rectified from Thursday.

“Despite huge losses due to the pandemic, we haven’t hesitated to spend money on buying masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and disinfectants for buses. There will be no compromise on workers’ health and welfare,” the transport official added.