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This story is from April 29, 2016

Commuters caught in poll warp

Elections sow the hopes of change and better days, but with it comes the baggage that, more often than not, turns to be a burden for aam aad mi. And the common man is slog ging it out the most on the roads this election season. With most vehicles -be it buses or app cabs -requisitioned for elections, commuters in the city are left with very few options.
Commuters caught in poll warp
Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay & Shreesha Ghosh
KOLKATA: Elections sow the hopes of change and better days, but with it comes the baggage that, more often than not, turns to be a burden for aam aad mi. And the common man is slog ging it out the most on the roads this election season. With most vehicles -be it buses or app cabs -requisitioned for elections, commuters in the city are left with very few options.
The situation has turned particularly grave in the last few days, just ahead of the fifth phase of polling, when the entire south Kolkata will vote on Saturday .Schoolkids are the worst sufferers as even carpools have not been spared of the poll axe. Many schools will remain open on Friday but attendance will be sparse.
Nearly, 70% of buses and 80% AC cabs have gone off the road. Poll pain apart, the soaring mercury has also played a part. “A lot of our workers have fallen sick. So, a number of buses have gone off the road because of staff shortage,“ said Tapan Bandyopadhyay of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates.
Buses that are plying are putting in extra hours. But getting a toehold is a Herculean task all through the day as the buses are packing in double their capacity.
App cabs, which have saved the commuters on a number of occasions in the recent past, also seem to have vanished. “It is very difficult to find one these days. Even if there is one, there is surge pricing. So we end up paying three times of normal fare,“ said Animesh Sarkar, who commutes to his Theatre Road office from Behala. “Last week, I felt lucky to get an AC bus from Behala till the Planetarium. But this week there wasn't a single bus.“ “The pressure of requisi tioning AC cabs is higher since we cannot requisition private SUVs. Sachin Haldar, a SUV owner, moved the court in 2011 against forcible pickup of SUVs. The order prohibited forcible requisition of private vehicles,“ said a police officer. “Since AC cabs or commercial cars are fewer in districts, we had to requisition them for South 24-Parganas and Hooghly as well,“ the officer added.

The non-availability of vehicles has derailed daily life in Kolkata. JU postgraduation student Sulagna Ghosh missed doctor's appointment. Rithika Iyer is skipping classes. LIC employee Shampa Ghosh shoves and pushes to get into a car. But no one has a solution. “Since there is severe shortage of cabs and the demand is high, fare surges encourage supplies of cabs in the market,“ said an Uber official.
“In the last few days, the average journey time on city roads has almost doubled because of street-corner meetings. Diversions cost time,“ said a traffic police officer.
Those living within walking distance of the Metro are the lucky ones.
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