The one hour journey from Panjim to Margao or vice-versa has increased by half the time on account of the queues commuters have to negotiate to avail of tickets for the Kadamba Transport Corporation’s shuttle bus service. The queues stretch out till almost the length of the bus station. In addition to this, commuters have to compete with pass holders since they get tickets faster than people without a pass. 

As morning turns to day, the bus stand at both cities comes abuzz with commuters who have to wait much longer than they envisaged due to the queues and unavailability of enough buses to accommodate the crowd. There are usually two lines at either ticket counter – one for pass holders and one for the general public. However, as soon as a bus arrives, it gets filled up with pass holders while the general commuter has to stand there waiting for the next bus as a mere spectator. 

Skyla Perreira, a student from Margao who travels to Mapusa on a daily basis for college is aggrieved due to the inconvenience and says there should be two queues – one for students and another for working people.  “We have to wait in a queue for a long time and it gets very irritating. Sometimes we have no choice but to break the line and buy our ticket because we have to reach college on time. People shout at us but what other option do we have? Authorities in charge should make two lines – one for students and another for working people,” she said. 

In the meantime, Venita Gomes from Nuvem suggested that there should be extra buses allotted to the route especially during the morning hours and especially on a Monday. “On a Monday, at around 8am, the concerned authorities should increase the frequency of buses as there are only four or five vehicles. When these buses leave, the queues get longer and longer as buses take more time to reach their destinations,” she noted. 

Speaking to a concerned authority at the bus stand, he admitted that there is a shortage of buses which leads to the entire mess. “There is a shortage in the number of buses for the shuttle service and the number of passengers increases rapidly, especially the pass holders. Most of the buses are filled with pass holders,” he mentioned. 

Myola Jonas, a resident of Benaulim and another affected commuter travels everyday to Panjim and she noted that it is the pass holders who benefit from the service while the general commuter has to sacrifice. “Not possessing a pass has left the general commuter frustrated. We stand in the queue for hours while it progresses at a snail’s pace. As a result, we reach our destination much later than we ideally should. This is now an everyday story. The main reason for this is because pass holders are given first preference and they are many in number,” she complained.