Petrol price hike: Many dump cars, rush to enter public transport

Most recent in circles of petrol price hike has prompted commuters to dump their vehicles and exchange to public transport. In the last 4 days, over 20,000 commuters have switched over to Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport service (AMTS).

Officials in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) say the average number of passengers travelling by the BRTS was about 1.08 lakh. Since May 25, this has increased to about 1.13 lakh for every day.

On May 23, about 1.06 lakh passengers travelled by BRTS and on May 25 this increased to 1.13 lakh. AMC officials say more people will switch giving the fact that more air conditioned buses were being introduced. The traffic will further increase by about 18,000 passengers after schools and colleges reopen.

Similarly there was a increase of about 15,000 passengers for every day in the AMTS buses. Officials said the daily passenger traffic in AMTS buses was about 9 lakh. This has touched 9.20 lakh ever since the petrol prices were hiked. Rajesh Patel, who stays near Subhash Bridge says, "I have to travel from Chandkheda to Paldi. I earlier used my two-wheeler but with the increase in the petrol prices, I have decided to use the BRT. I walk for nearly 500 metre to board a BRTS bus."