Waiting for passengers: NBSTC buses will soon get a facelift. Picture by Mridul Hore

Balurghat, Sept. 13: People interested in booking a vehicle for a marriage party or a long distance tour can now look up a new address on the chartered-vehicle index.

In a bid to tide over its dipping fortunes, the North Bengal State Transport corporation (NBSTC), has decided to hire out its vehicles to “individuals or institutions and tour and marriage parties for periods of a few hours to extended week-long plans”.

The chartered buses will begin service in Siliguri, Cooch Behar, Balurghat and Behrampur before extending to other places.

NBSTC board director Goutam Goswami said: “The vehicles have to be booked for a minimum of six hours. ” For the rocket bus, the rate has been fixed at Rs 2,000 while the rate for the super vehicle is a trifle lower at Rs 1,500. The cost of petrol will have to be borne by the party. The parties will have a buffer time of three hours. For every extra hour that the vehicle waits for them, the NBSTC will charge Rs 150 for the super and Rs 200 for the rocket.

But the people who book the vehicles for a longer period of time will benefit the most, Goswami claimed.

“If the bus is booked for 10 days, the rates will be as low as Rs 2,000 for the super and Rs 2,500 for the rocket. Of course, the buses will travel only 300 km or 12 hours which ever is lesser, each day,” he added. NBSTC will also provide the drivers.

The step comes in the wake of mounting losses incurred by the 58-year-old state government run transport major. Set up in 1945 by Nripendra Narayan, the then maharaja of Cooch Behar, the advent of private competition and improper use of resources has spelt doom for the NBSTC. Much has changed since 1994, when it bagged the President’s award, for the best service provider.

“The decision to hire out buses is only a part of a complete revamp drive that includes better services, new buses, modernisation of the depots and training of the staff. All this will go a long way in ensuring the steady generation of revenue in the long run,” Goswami said.

The state government undertaking is also pumping in a huge amount for the import of a fleet of 200 buses. “Once they arrive, we will have the competitive edge over our private counterparts,” he added. This apart, 50 new buses will be added to cater specially to tourists.

At present however, the 6039 workers and engineers can only keep their fingers crossed.

“We have lost out on several facilities that private bus owners use to woo passengers. We only hope plans laid down by the higher authorities works as well as they expect it to,” a worker said.

“Though the NBSTC has more than a thousand buses at its disposal, lack of upkeep has rendered many of them useless. And the number keeps growing without any new additions being made to the existing numbers,” another worker said, adding, “who will like to travel in a rickety bus when one can get a cosy push-back seat at the same price.”

“All the buses put together should ideally cover 1.62 lakh km each day. But the mileage falls short by around 25,000 km everyday due to plaguing maintenance problems,” a source at the NBSTC said.

Admitting to the problem, Goswami said: “We will soon be selling off the buses that don’t meet the standards we have set to clear space for the buses of the future.”