The recent hike in petrol prices has made travelling by private vehicles unaffordable.
The recent hike in petrol prices has made travelling by private vehicles unaffordable. It has forced many people in the city to switch to public transport for their commuting needs.
This is evident from the jump in the number of people using monthly bus passes issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) after the petrol price hike. Officials of the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) speak of a similar increase in the number of people using the service.
Sources in the AMTS told DNA that between mid-April and mid-May, a total of 15,737 monthly bus passes (excluding students passes) issued by the transport service were in use. But after the Rs5 hike in petrol prices announced on May 14, the number of monthly AMTS passes in use jumped to 18, 674.
This is 2,937 more than the number of passes in use before the increase in petrol prices.
“We have seen a substantial increase in the number of monthly pass holders, thanks to the petrol price hike,” said an official.
BRTS officials speak of a similar jump in the number of passengers using the rapid transport system. Officials said the number of people using the service on a daily basis had gone up by over 10,000 after the May 14 hike in petrol prices. Prior to that, 1, 10,000 passengers used the BRTS daily.
“After the petrol price hike, the number of passengers commuting by the BRTS on a daily basis rose to 1, 22,000,” a BRTS official said.
He added that the BRTS had to increase the frequency of buses on existing routes and introduce more buses to deal with the rise in the number of passengers.
One commuter, Parth Patel, told DNA how the petrol price hike had forced him to change his mode of transport.
“The distance between my office and my residence is a few kilometers, which is used to go by my bike. But after the hike in petrol prices, I decided to walk some of the distance and then catch a bus to reach the office. This has helped me save a lot of money,” he said.
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