The owners of many pool cars that would once ferry children to school and back have now enrolled as drivers at travel agencies, started stitching garments or switched to delivering groceries in search of alternative means of livelihood amid the pandemic.

Pool car drivers, too, have had to find alternative work. Some drivers have started selling fish in retail markets and a few others have started home delivery of cooked meals with their wives.

Around 3,000 pool car operators in and around Calcutta would ferry around 60,000 schoolchildren every day.

Pool car owners and drivers have been struggling since April last year, when schools were shut as a precaution against Covid and their services became redundant. For the first few months, some schools paid the pool car owners half of what they used to but gradually that stopped.

For many of the operators and drivers, it took some time to realise that schools were not reopening anytime soon and that it would be disastrous to wait for their businesses to resume. The only way to survive the Covid pandemic was to find alternative sources of income.

“I have started delivering groceries to the parents of children who used to go to school in my cars,” said Chiranjit Roy, a pool car owner from Jadavpur.

Roy’s cars used to ferry around 300 students to South Point, DPS Ruby Park and a few schools in New Town in six cars, three of which he owned and the rest he hired.

“I deliver rice, eggs, pulses and potatoes,” Roy, who has a wife and a one-year-old son, said. “The guardians have extended a helping hand.”

Last month, the Pool Car Owners’ Welfare Association had appealed to transport minister Firhad Hakim urging the government to utilise their vehicles as ambulances so that drivers and other workers could find a means to survive.

“Out of the five cars I owned, I sold three and got Rs 1.5 lakh. There are hardly any takers for old cars. After waiting for a few more months, I joined an agency that arranges for drivers,” said Rabi Roy, a pool car owner from Paikpara in north Calcutta. “I had to find a way to meet my family’s expenses.”

He has a wife, son and elderly mother to look after.

A couple of years ago, Timir Nath used to own a fleet of three mini-vans (two Wingers and one Ace) that ferried students to two schools in Behala. The mounting losses because of the Covid curbs forced him to sell two of his vehicles — one last year and one this year.

“The vehicles were nine and 10 years old. I had to sell them as scrap. The vehicle I have kept is four years old,” said Nath, in his 50s.

He was forced to let go of two of his drivers and two helpers.

For the past two months, Nath has been running a tea stall from an 8ftX10ft room off Biren Roy Road West, a kilometre from Behala Chowrasta.

The room used to house the office of Nath Travels. The signboard was removed recently.

Nath used to rent out his vehicles during school vacations.

He bought a tea vending machine for Rs 15,000. It serves regular tea, lemon tea and some other varieties.

Nath has also started selling fish and bird food from the stall. One of his drivers helps him run it.

“I am somehow getting by. But I feel sorry for the drivers and helpers I had to let go of. They had been with me for many years. I feel I have let them down,” said Nath.

Pool car drivers, too, have taken up other jobs.

“I learnt stitching from my friends who are in the trade. Now I stitch pieces for readymade garments. The pay is not good. It varies between Rs 4 and Rs 5 apiece,” said Gobindo Halder, from Baruipur. “I have managed to survive but a few of my friends are still struggling.”

On July 7, the Bengal government had announced a waiver of road tax for transport vehicles till December, an incentive that was aimed at boosting the transport sector.

“We have found out that the waiver applies to pool car operators, too. But the transport department has not issued a notification yet.

So, we don’t know whether we will benefit or not,” said Sudip Dutta, the secretary of the Pool Car Owners' Welfare Association.