Kolkata: A sharp rise in auto LPG prices and persistent fuel shortage have pushed auto operators to increasingly adopt ‘kata routes’ (truncated trips), leaving commuters stranded and forcing them to pay far more than usual to complete their journeys.According to daily commuters, what was once an occasional inconvenience has now become the new normal. Shankar Ghosh, an employee with a NGO, said: “I am spending one third of my earning in autos, as buses are fewer.”On several busy corridors, autos no longer run their full routes, particularly during the peak hours. Instead, drivers break the journey into shorter segments so they can carry more passengers in less time and compensate for rising fuel costs and hours lost waiting in queues for LPG.“Earlier, an auto would take us directly from Behala to Rashbehari. Now, we have to change autos midway and pay twice or even three times the usual fare to complete the entire route,” said a commuter waiting near Rashbehari crossing during the evening rush.Auto operators admit that the change is driven by economics. The steep rise in auto LPG prices, coupled with long queues at filling stations, has reduced the number of trips they can complete in a day. “Sometimes we spend more than an hour in queue for gas. With fuel becoming expensive and time lost in queues, we have to recover the cost somehow,” said Pawan Sau, auto driver operating on the Behala–Rashbehari route.The problem has become more visible on routes where auto unions have resisted fare revisions or where the authorities forced operators to roll back revised fares. In such cases, drivers say truncating routes is the only way to maintain viable earnings. On routes like Esplanade-Lohapool or Hazra-Chittaranjan, most autos are refusing to run full length.
