State bus commuter numbers dropped from 1.7 crore to 0.7 crore during the pandemic: TN Transport Minister

Passengers using state transport have dropped drastically in the last two years due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, said Tamil Nadu Transport Minister RS Rajakannappan on Wednesday. But, he added that State Transport Undertaking buses have been providing connectivity to the villages with a population of at least 1,000. 

"State buses connect almost all areas in urban habitations, inter-district, and inter-state to the neighbouring states and about 1.3142 crore passengers are being transported every day. The number of these commuters stood at 1.7 crore in 2019-20 before the pandemic struck. It dropped to about 0.7 crore per day in 2020-2021," the Minister said. 

Rajakannappan said public transport ridership again dropped in the first quarter of the year 2021-2022 and reached about 0.76 crore per day in July 2021. 

On the financial performance, the minister said the Covid-19 pandemic caused heavy losses due to complete lockdown in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. "Bus services were halted for 8 days in 2019-2020, 141 days in 2020-2021, and for 42-56 days in 2021-2022," he added.