BMTC ridership nosedives by 3 lakh per day

The spiralling Covid-19 cases in the city over the past two weeks have brought down the daily BMTC ridership by 3 lakh forcing the Corporation to cut the number of trips on zero-revenue routes.

Last week, the BMTC cancelled 222 routes and revised 70 others as the slide in the ridership increased. The Corporation had expected things to pick up when the daily ridership crossed 10 lakh during the end of May.

“The ridership reached 11 lakh. We scaled up the operations to keep the momentum and operated 4,000 of the 6,500 buses,” a senior official said.

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However, over the last two weeks, the numbers went down quickly, reaching 8 lakh last week.

“On many routes, we are running buses with hardly any passengers on board. But we know for many, the buses are an integral part of facilities to make a living. We are rationalising the routes and trips only to avoid unnecessary losses. However, wherever there is demand, we are deploying buses,” the official said.

The decline in the ridership is also reflected in nosediving sales of monthly passes. In June, the BMTC sold 70,000 monthly passes while only 35,000 have bought them as on Monday. As passes are valid for the calendar month, most of the passengers buy them in the first week.