lack of awareness and failure of the authorities to fix a schedule for the much-touted ‘Nirbhaya bus service’ for women commuters are responsible for less than enthusiastic response for the service witnessed in initial days.
The bus service was flagged off by Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh on Wednesday. The bus is exclusively reserved for women and has female bus conductors. The Uttarakhand roadway is operating the service on Dehradun-Haridwar and Dehradun- Rishikesh routes.
These buses are making two trips daily on these routes. On Thursday only 42 passengers availed the facility of the service on Doon-Haridwar route while 93 women boarded the Doon-Rishikesh service. On Friday, 108 women travelled on Rishikesh route while only 57 boarded the bus on Haridwar route. The bus for Rishikesh departs at 8.00 am in the morning while the bus for Haridwar leaves at 8.30 am.
However the departure time from Haridwar and Rishikesh is not fixed as the time depends on arrival of the bus. The same service makes another trip in the afternoon also but its time too is not fixed.
The general manager (operations) roadways Rajiv Jain told The Pioneer that the efforts would be made to popularise the service and more buses would be pressed into the service once the passenger load increases.
lack of information about the service was evident when this correspondent inquired some women at the Rispana Bridge bus stop on Friday. Rakhi Rawat, a teacher posted in a primary school near Rishikesh, said that scores of lady teachers commuted daily on the route but most of them were unaware of the timings of ‘Nirbhaya Service’.
Shalini Sharma, a resident of Defence Colony, questioned the propriety of the exclusive bus service for women. She suggested the department should reserve half of the seats for women in normal buses and ensure their safety. However, most of the women like Saraswati Vihar resident Anita Bisht welcomed the decision to start the ‘Nirbhaya Service’. The service though laudable is not free from glitches. Many women leave the bus in huff when they realise that they cannot travel with their male relative or son who is above 12 years of age.
Interestingly, the department painted old buses for the service which ruined the mood the Finance Minister on the occasion of start of the service. The roadways officials are now hoping that the minister would do something in the ensuing budget to revive state roadways which is reeling under heavy losses.