A union of bus owners has written to the transport minister that an owner who earned a daily profit of Rs 589 in March 2020, before the lockdown, now incurs a daily loss of Rs 2,992 if the vehicle travels the same distance as before.

The price of diesel has shot up from Rs 64.60 a litre to Rs 92.65 during the period.

While calculating the profit and loss, the average distance travelled by a bus in a day has been kept at 150km and the diesel consumption pegged at 45 litres.

The letter to minister Firhad Hakim was first sent by the All Bengal Bus Minibus Samannay Samity in end-June, when the price of diesel was Rs 1.52 less than Thursday’s Rs 92.65. It was sent again on Thursday.

There is no mention about the need for a fare hike in the letter.

“The calculations are based on the average number of trips a bus would make and the average number of passengers it would ferry before the lockdown in March last year. That was compared with the current number of trips and passengers, both of which are much less compared with pre-March 2020,” said Rahul Chatterjee, of the Samannay Samity.

“The idea is to lay bare the facts so that the state government can decide whether the demand for a fare revision is justified or not.”

The majority of bus and minibus owners across Calcutta and its adjoining areas have not taken out their vehicles since July 1 — the day the state government allowed resumption of public transport with 50 per cent passenger capacity — pressing for a fare hike.

Most of them have said their business is not viable anymore and the returns aren’t enough to meet the family expenses.

On Thursday, a bus driver in his late 50s was found dead in Dhakuria inside the bus he used to drive. Ranjit Das was unable to meet the expenses of his family.

“What’s the point in rolling out buses if we end up incurring huge losses? It is better to keep them parked,” said Somnath Dutta, the owner of the bus that Ranjit drove.

“I have defaulted on the EMI for my three buses for three months. The banks will probably take away the buses.”

The Samannay Samity’s letter to Hakim shows that on May 15 — when the state government announced a fresh restriction on public transport — a bus owner incurred a loss of Rs 2,754 a day by running a bus.

The price of diesel then stood at Rs 85.85, up by around Rs 22 a litre since March last year. By the time the state government decided to withdraw this temporary restriction on July 1, the diesel price had gone up to Rs 91.13 a litre.

The state government, while resisting any talks on fare hike, has announced a waiver of road taxes for transport operators till December.

“We have been telling the state government that 60 per cent of the operational costs of bus operators is directly related to the fuel cost,” said Tapan Bandopadhyay, of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates.

“If the price of diesel is up by nearly Rs 26 a litre within a year, how can any dole help us offset this hike?”