As my college is located in Panjim, I have to travel everyday by Kadamba shuttle buses in the mornings and afternoons as well, but off late the reliability of Kadambas have got far long forgotten with irregular service and lower frequency buses plying on major shuttle routes resulting in bottlenecks and long queues and it only gets worse especially for pass holders who have to struggle to reach their destinations on time by skipping breakfast in the mornings and having sleepless nights just thinking about reaching destinations on time next morning.
MORNING DILEMMA: In the morning the queues begin at 7am itself and we are forced to stand in long queues for as long as 45 minutes sometimes, and despite the bus stand having a shed, the pass holders are made to stand outside the shed, thus braving the monsoons in the mornings. Most of the time I skip breakfast and rush off to the bus stand just to reach college early on time, only to be gifted with a sight of long queues which spoils my day altogether.
AFTERNOON HUNGER: The same issue arises in Panjim in the afternoon as well, where we are made to stand for almost half an hour for buses to arrive, and it can sometimes be very irritating as when you are made to stand for so long just waiting to board a bus and get home soon as we are hungry and tired.
KTC should also maintain their buses well and regular maintenance needs to be done. Most of the time the buses deployed on the shuttle routes are in bad condition and release black smoke and burnt smell and have damaged seats.
One can also see a large number of buses lying idle at depots in Margao and Porvorim for want of repairs and spare parts, most not notable are the Tata Marcopolo Ultra buses which have been maintained very badly and most are seen parked inside the depot for months now. The reason I am highlighting these buses is because KTCL should deploy these buses during the mornings as they are fast, reliable and reach the destination on time.
Further adding up is Switzel Luis, a second year Mass media student who said “The Kadamba buses to Panjim and back cause a lot of problems to the school or college students who travel daily to Panjim. The buses are delayed by half an hour and even sometimes by 45 minutes. What do they expect us to do? Like come at 6 am in the mornings and stand in line? When we ask the staff as to why the buses are delayed, the KTC staff answer is, “The buses we receive are broken down and now recently the new one is under maintenance for long time”. They further tell us to “ask in the control room, as they are the ones that send the busses”. The bus conductors don’t even entertain those who come to ask them about the delay in buses. They just ignore the person until you yell and ask them. There is a height of tolerance. Government provided so many buses, where have they disappeared? My humble request is to provide buses is to provide buses on time so that we can reach our destinations on time.
While Simran D’Silva, a college student studying in Panjim, says “She has to stand in line every morning at 7.20 am only to get a bus at 8 am. She has to be in college at 9 am sharp or else she is marked absent for the first lecture. This has been going on for months now and its affecting her attendance.
I would also request the chairman of KTCL, Mr Carlos Almeida and the MD, Derrick Netto to personally look into the matter and visit the bus stands in the mornings especially on Mondays when its worse than ever and resolve the issue and bring back the trust of the students and office goers by returning fast, safe, reliable and timely bus service in the mornings.
