The State Transport (ST) buses have been plying essential workers amid this lockdown. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) was already been suffering losses prior to the lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic has come as an addition to the transport corporation's woes. Owing to the lockdown, the State Transport Corporation has suffered revenue losses worth ₹22 crores every day since the last one month.
As the losses mount for the ST Corporation, the transport wing has decided that it will not run buses if the daily ridership is less than 40 per cent of its capacity. The bus service has only been kept operational by ST Corporation in Mumbai and is only available to essential employees. Due to the lockdown which was introduced in two phases, the transport wing has lost revenue worth ₹880 crores.
Accordingly, in a meeting between top MSRTC officials, it was decided that the service on routes where the daily ridership is less than 40 per cent, will become non-functional. However, the mandatory and academical routes have been exempted from the regulation.
This comes after the ST Corporation had declared that they will run extra bus services from April 20. The State Transport Corporation, which has been ferrying essential employees in and out of Mumbai from neighbouring areas had announced that it deploy 22 more buses that will conduct 100 additional journeys.
The additional ST bus services were announced to ensure transportation for the employees working in Mantralaya and other government offices. The extra journeys by ST aimed at ensuring that these employees would be able to follow social distancing norms and could reach their workplaces without hassles.
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