Private bus operators hope fair revision by new govt in state
The Statesman | 13 May 2026
With the political shift in West Bengal and the new government taking over, private and minibus operators are looking forward to fare hike and time extension on phasing out 15-year-old vehicles as immediate solutions to revive the transport sector in the state.
The issue of fare hike officially has been a long pending demand by the private and mini bus operators. The previous regime had repeatedly rejected the proposal of a fare hike of private buses. In the post-covid era, Rs 10 has become the minimum fare in private and mini buses of the city unofficially. Conductors and helpers of private buses often had to face arguments from jittery commuters who would refuse to pay Rs 10 as they claimed it lacked government validation. The increasing fuel prices and rise in operational costs is said to have aggravated the difficulties of the private bus operators, many of whom had switched to other professions.
With the new government in the state, the bus operators are seeing new rays of hope for revival of the transport sector which they claimed had crippled in the recent few years. The private operators are suggesting few remedies as immediate steps to provide oxygen to the sector. “For long time we have been raising the issue that the transport sector and the private bus operators’ section is dying a natural death. To revive this, a hike in fare would be our foremost demand. Even though transport is the backbone of the entire system and a large population of the state is heavily dependent on it, the sector is almost ‘in coma’ after 2020,” said the general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates.
“To revive this, a hike in fare would be the need of the hour. Second, as several bus operators have already switched to other professions after being unable to meet the operational cost of the vehicle and the number of private buses in the state have come down drastically. Our organisation that had around 46,000 buses till five years ago has a reduced fleet of only about 32,000. To prevent the issue of the diminishing fleet of private and mini buses in the state, we hope that the matter of phasing out of 15-year-old vehicles would be reconsidered by the new government,” he added.
Apart from these, formation of a regulatory body for regularisation of various aspects, including the fare and route rationalisation of buses is also being suggested as an immediate remedy. “As the state government and the Centre are aligned now, we also look forward to reduction in interest rates for automobile loans or even lubricants so that the EMI burden and the operational cost on private buses is reduced,” reiterated the general secretary.
Echoing the assertions, Pradeep Narayan Bose, general secretary of West Bengal Bus and Mini bus Owners’ Association, said, “As immediate steps to breathe oxygen to the transport industry that has been adversely affected in the recent years, we hope that the new government approves present amount of Rs 10 as the minimum bus fare officially. The second most crucial issue that needs immediate attention is the phasing out of 15-year-old vehicles that require extension. In addition to the waiver scheme for penalty, senior officials of the traffic police should have frequent meetings with the private bus operators to discuss unexplained fines by some of the police personnel.”
Rahul Chatterjee, the general secretary of the All Bengal Bus Mini bus Samannay Samiti, reiterated, “Of late, a kind of reluctance to operate vehicles has recently occurred due to various reasons. To overcome this, policies by the state government should be redesigned in such a way that would enable the operators to function smoothly. For the interest of commuters, strategies should be decided to make income and expenditure of the private operators compatible and in resonance with each other. In addition, illegal occupation of roads by hawkers and encroachers should be removed. Overall, better cooperation from the state government is expected from the new government.”