Mr Sanjay Ghate, I understand you, or the concerned people, who make decisions at KTCL, have their own transportation and are unaware of the real problems people are facing. Have you ever been out in Goa and thought …how you will reach home after 8pm when you don’t have your transport.
We all have to clearly understand that we are already in a Global Economy, which means there are no fixed timings to do things anymore. People will work at anytime, people will go to a restaurant anytime, people will travel out of state at anytime, people will want to go for a night movie show. Gone are the days where everyone used to return home before sunset. As globalisation increases it means there are more activities and responsibilities people have and for that the transportation system should also grow side by side.
I have faced problems so many times myself. I live in Canacona. Goans still consider Canacona to be out of Goa and a different state. People in Canacona don’t even get local radio channels from Goa. Rather, they get the nearby state Karnataka FM channels. Similarly the last bus is at 8pm to go to Canacona, after that, what should one do. Aren’t there trains arriving at midnight at the station? Aren’t there flights arriving at midnight…what will they do? I have spent Rs 200 to go to Canacona in a luxury bus after 8 pm. Why? Why am I paying taxes? What’s happening to my taxes?
And apart from the Globalisation and everything aside, how can we Goans forget that tourism is the major bread and butter for many households in Goa. So if the tourists are not given a proper connectivity, how do you think Goa can expect the same tourist to visit again if you had a bad experience.
I had seen a group of tourists alight at Canacona station at 2.30 am by the Matsyagandha train from Bombay. With no transport, they started to walk to Agonda, about 12km from Canacona station.
Mr Ghate, the best road transportation I have seen in India is in Tamil Nadu, no one can beat them. They have all night bus services, within cities and major outstation cities all night. The sick and reckless taxi unions in Goa don’t offer service neither do they allow cab services like OLA, or UBER to enter the market.
All I am saying is start bus services from major towns within Goa at odd hours, put it on social media, get public views and then start the services. You need to market and propagate a product for people to come an avail it. Make use of the most powerful tool…Facebook. Get public votes on what they want, that way they will be happy and even KTCL will not lose on money on trial runs. Global world, people literally live online nowadays.
