Patiala 19 June 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : Punjab’s shortage of air-conditioned buses, both public and private, seems more dire in this heat wave, but no transporter will sweat for it in the state’s cost-sensitive market that stripped a once-strong AC fleet to ordinary.
Pepsu Road Transport Corporation’s 1,200-strong fleet has only 40 AC buses, of which 20 are Volvos with a 33% higher fare and 20 are HVACs with a 10% costlier ride
Govt-run Punbus and Punjab Roadways mirror this scarcity. Their combined fleet of 1,646 includes only 50 AC buses. AC coaches are rare even in the private sector that runs more than 6,000 buses.
Malwa Zone Private Bus Operation Association convener Baltej Singh of Bathinda claimed that: “Many private operators had once introduced those cooler buses in good numbers until the cost-consciousness of the commuters who wouldn’t pay even 10% more for comfort forced them to convert those coaches to ordinary.”
Even the state’s private sector has hardly 100 AC buses, and most of those run between major depots and Chandigarh. There is no AC bus for Bathinda to Amritsar, and those passengers travel in oppressive heat. Baltej Singh said: “The state’s free bus travel scheme for the women has also strained private operators. As the mercury continues to climb, more passengers now look for AC buses. Ooperators are all for it, if the economics also agreed. Director transport Gurpreet Singh Khaira said: “We will have more HVACs to keep the hike in fare nominal.”
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