The state government has decided to run additional night buses.

Most of the government buses in Calcutta are inside garages by 10pm.

On Friday, a senior official said they were working on a plan where around 250 buses will be on the roads till midnight.

The state transport department has around 150 buses on the roads during the second half of the day, 1.30pm-9.30pm shift, the official said.

Most Calcuttans would even disagree with this number.

Thousands of commuters are left at the mercy of unscrupulous and often unsafe private transport operators at night.

The state government has decided to tweak the timings of state buses leaving depots making them available later at night.

Over 25 such routes have been identified for the night bus service. Some of them are Dunlop-Ballygunge; Sealdah-Thakupukur; Howrah-Garia; Howrah-Patuli; Howrah-New Town; Howrah-Nilgunge (Barrackpore) and Kankurgachi-Behala.

Government buses are not available after 10pm in most of these places.

At multiple stops across the city including, the Ruby crossing, Shyamabazar, Rashbehari, Garia, Ultadanga and Taratala, passengers are forced to wait endlessly for buses at night.

Several commuters said shuttle service by private vehicles is the only alternative.

“Before the pandemic, the state government used to run a night bus service which would be available at Shyambazar. Now the only resort is shuttle cab service,” said Shankar Roy, senior administrative officer at a private organisation and a resident of Sodepur.

On August 6, during a meeting with senior officials of the transport department chief minister Mamata Banerjee had flagged her concern about the shortage of state buses at night.

This prompted the transport department to meet bus operators within the next few days to find a way out.

At the meeting, senior officers decided that the frequency of night buses must be increased. Buses would be made available from points covering hospitals, small-scale industry clusters, business districts and commercial and office areas.

Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty was present at the meeting.

Around 750 state buses cater to the city’s demand in two shifts. Recently, another 80 buses have joined the fleet and another 20 new ones are expected to arrive soon, a transport department official said.

“Buses on the second shift would earlier leave depots around 1.30-2pm. Now, they will leave later to be available after 11pm,” the official said.

Additional buses would also ply to address the demands, the official said.