The Mamata Banerjee government proposed on Thursday a monthly salary for drivers and conductors of private buses, which will replace the existing commission-based remuneration system that makes them take undue risks, to make Calcutta’s roads safer.

Such a proposal is not new. Private bus operators have over the years resisted it saying they do not earn enough to switch to such a system and the state government’s refusal to let them hike fares has only worsened their financial condition.

Bus fares in Bengal were last raised in 2018. Since then, bus and minibus owners have repeatedly appealed to the transport department for permission to increase fares as the fuel and maintenance costs have soared.

The state government has ignored their pleas.

“We proposed at a meeting today that bus and minibus owners do away with the commission-based system and replace it with monthly salaries for the staff, including drivers and conductors,” transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty told Metro after the meeting.

“The drivers can’t go on speeding and overtaking other buses, putting the lives of passengers and others at risk, to earn more by way of commission.”

In the commission-based remuneration system, drivers and conductors are paid, instead of a fixed salary, a certain percentage of the income from the sale of tickets.

Chakraborty and urban development minister Firhad Hakim presided over the meeting attended by representatives of bus, minibus, app-cab and taxi unions. Among the others at the meeting were the director general of police, Rajeev Kumar; commissioner of Kolkata Police, Manoj Verma; and transport secretary Saumitra Mohan.

“We have decided to use technology to boost road safety. While the state government will address its shortcomings, there will be fresh initiatives to spread awareness about road safety among the masses,” Chakraborty said.

The meeting, convened at chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s instruction, followed the death of 11-year-old Ayush Paik in an accident in Salt Lake involving two racing buses on Tuesday.

The chief minister had instructed Chakraborty to find ways to curb accidents caused by recklessly driven buses.

“The chief minister was deeply pained by the death. She had called the transport minister and instructed him to find a solution,” Hakim said after the meeting.

“She called twice during the meeting. We have proposed drawing up a standard operating system that will include a traffic monitoring system to check the number of buses plying on a particular route at a given point in time.”

Based on the feedback from the monitoring system, a plan will be drawn up on the interval of departure of buses on a particular route from the terminal points, said Hakim, a former transport minister of Bengal.

Calcuttans, however, wondered whether any of these measures would make the city’s roads safer. They complained about the lack of effort by the police to prosecute buses that routinely flout traffic norms.

In Calcutta, buses pick up and drop off passengers anywhere the drivers wish, speed even when the traffic signal is amber and switch lanes at will.

Hakim underlined the need to introduce the “Safe Drive, Save Life” campaign in schools. He also proposed that schools follow staggered timings if several are located close to one another.

“Schools need to workout their timings. If several of them are located in one place, classes should end (for the day) at different times. That will reduce traffic congestion and suffering of the students,” Hakimsaid.

Bus and minibus owners said the proposal to do away with the commission-based system is a pointer to the state government’s ignorance of the reality.

“The state government is not keen on discussing fare hikes. The transport department needs to know what a bus owner has to earn to pay the staff a fixed salary,” said Pradip Narayan Bose, the secretary of the West Bengal Bus and Minibus Owners’ Association.

Bus owners said they urged the government to re-evaluate the system of timers attached to traffic signals so drivers know when a signal will turn green.

“The director general of police said he will soon meet us and discuss these issues to evolve a system that will benefit all,” Bose said.