Chief Minister Pramod Sawant last week announced that the Goa government was contemplating making travel for working women more affordable by ensuring that women including those who work in the private sector can avail of public transport at a 50% concession. The proposal is reminiscent of the 50% student fare agitation of the 80s which resulted in the government announcing that all students would be allowed to travel at 50% fare on private buses as well.
Until that point, the 50% fare was only available on State-run Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) buses. Since then, the government has expanded the list of people who can avail of the 50% share on KTC buses and now includes senior citizens, those with disabilities, freedom fighters, and others. The Chief Minister, who made the statement at the annual meeting of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it was to encourage women to take up jobs including jobs that end late and to reduce the burden of travel on household expenses.
The intentions are no doubt noble and well-meaning. However, the real question is where are the buses? It is no secret that the KTC is facing a shortage of buses to service existing routes including the main trunk routes between the cities of Panaji, Margao and Vasco and as a result of which commuters who use the bus service between these routes face long wait hours, crowded buses and unreliable transport.
When the government cannot provide enough buses to even service the existing routes, which themselves are not enough to cater to the demand, offering a 50% concession means very little. People are not using public transport not because it is expensive, but simply because it does not exist. And on routes where it does exist, it is infrequent, unreliable, inefficient and inconvenient.
The problem will not be solved by just improving the supply of buses between industrial estates and the nearest towns. The government needs to ensure a complete mobility solution including last-mile connectivity between where people live and where they work. As per the existing system, it is nearly impossible to travel for example from most villages of Bardez directly to Panjim without having to stop over at Mapusa first. Imagine what it must be like for someone who has a job in Panjim or at the Verna Industrial Estate to first have to travel through Mapusa, then Panjim and then to Verna. It is no surprise that most industrial units in various industrial units hire their own bus system in tune with their shifts to help move people from their homes to their places of work.
The government has spent thousands of crores of rupees building monolithic roads and highways to crisscross the state, but these have only served to encourage the use of private vehicles. If only the government were to spend a fraction of that to improve the bus system in a manner that makes commuters ditch their personal vehicles, especially the risky two-wheelers, not only would there be a reduction in traffic, but our streets would also be safer.
Goa needs more than token announcements that mean very little on the ground. A 50% concession could have been a game-changer if we had a well-knit bus network across the State.
