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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 19 (EMN): Buses in Kohima seem to be following the SOP issued by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), like limited passengers to be seated in a zig-zag manner and leaving alternative vacant seats for social distancing, but the hike in its fare from INR 10 to INR 20 seems to be digging a hole in the pockets of the commuters.
An elderly passenger, who alighted from a bus with her daughter from BOC after visiting a patient at a hospital, told Eastern Mirror that ‘bus fare has become too high’.
"The little profit that we make from selling our vegetables is all spent in travelling to the town," said a mother who came from Ziezou, a village in the Northern Angami region.
A 27-year-old passenger, who was inside a city bus at Razhü Point, said that "everybody is facing difficulties in this lockdown, so the normal fare (INR 10) will do," adding that many have been already adversely affected economically by the pandemic.
She added that ‘there are some people who can't travel and paying INR 10 more is too much for us’.
Interestingly, an elderly man was seen earnestly requesting conductor of a private bus, heading from Kezieke bus stand to High School junction, to give him a free lift saying that would travel standing.
Meanwhile, taxis in Kohima have turned a deaf ear to the revised fare fixed by the authorities as they continue to openly charge INR 50 against the revised INR 25 per passenger.
It may be mentioned that Eastern Mirror had earlier reported about taxis charging exorbitant fares across Nagaland since the nationwide lockdown began on March.