Sharp June recovery after May ridership plunge for city buses

Gurgaon: The

ridership

in the

city bus

service, after falling by nearly 70% in May, has bounced almost back to this year’s pre-lockdown numbers.

As per the data published by Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (

GMCBL

), the daily ridership was recorded at 25,461 on April 24. By May 24, the figure fell to 7,833 before rising again in June. On June 24, as many as 25,843 people availed the service.

In terms of the earnings, GMCBL generated a revenue of Rs 3,63,436 on April 24, but the number declined by around 70% on May 24 when it generated Rs 1,08,439. However, the daily earnings on June 24 touched Rs 3,64,034 — marginally higher than the pre-lockdown numbers.

According to the GMCBL officials, the ridership had come down substantially due to the second Covid wave. However, with new routes being revived, the numbers are now seeing an improvement.

On Tuesday, the city bus service launched a new route — route number 111G — which will start at Sector 55/56 metro station and go to Mayfield Garden and Nirvana Country.

The numbers are, however, still far lower than the figures before the pandemic outbreak. The city bus service continues to battle steep losses, according to sources within GMCBL. Currently, the buses are running at half their capacity, which said to be another reason behind the lower ridership numbers.

As per the data, the bus service saw 22,41,156 passengers in January this year. In February, it recorded 24,49,233 passengers. The number declined to 16,04,869 in March due to the second wave. GMCBL has lost Rs 8.75 crore in revenue over the past four months due to the suspension of services, an RTI reply had revealed. “We are facing steep losses. However, we are taking measures are to combat the losses,” said a source requesting anonymity.

The government had decided to assign some buses for Faridabad. Other measures, including changes in routes to increase ridership, are also being taken regularly.

The state government had approved a viability gap funding. The funds were supposed to be transferred from MCG, HSIIDC and GMDA. While GMDA has transferred the 50% of the funds, GMCBL has not received the remaining amount yet. TOI tried reaching GMCBL CEO Anju Choudhary and GMCBL CFO multiple times for queries on the matter, but all messages and calls remained unanswered.


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