Gurgaon: A journey that once cost Munni Devi Rs 20 now costs her Rs 60 one way, forcing her to spend three times as much to get to work and back home. Since city buses stopped running on Oct 10, the domestic staffer has had to change transport several times, turning her routine commute into an expensive, time-consuming ordeal.Earlier, Munni took a direct bus from Millennium City Centre to Maruti Kunj after work in Sector 43. Now, she takes a shared auto to Subhash Chowk, another to Badshapur and then further transport to reach home in Rithoj.“The bus service was limited, but at least it was running. Now we have no option,” she said.She is among hundreds of commuters struggling with longer journeys and higher travel costs after 100 buses operated by private concessionaire TCRPL Gurugram City Transport Pvt Ltd in Gurgaon and Faridabad were withdrawn from the roads amid a payment dispute with Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL).The disruption has caught even regular passengers off guard. Harsh, a student who travelled to Delhi in the morning, found himself stranded at Millennium City Centre while returning to Sector 105.“I took a bus to IFFCO Chowk in the morning and then took the metro to Delhi. While returning, I got off at Millennium City Centre, expecting to take a bus home. I waited for around 30 minutes, but no bus arrived. I was unaware that the service had been suspended, so I eventually booked a bike to reach home,” he said.For domestic staffer Prem, the extra expense is eating into already limited earnings. “I don’t earn enough to spend Rs 100-150 daily on commuting. What I earn is barely enough. And now, so much of it is being spent on travel,” she said.Others are worried about safety. Saroj Devi said shared autos, a key alternative for stranded passengers, often carry 7-8 people in a single vehicle. “They leave little space for people to sit comfortably. But with buses not running, we have no other option but to travel this way,” she said.The shutdown has exposed the fragility of a public transport network that has struggled to keep pace with the city’s expanding residential and commercial areas. With winter approaching and pollution levels expected to rise, the loss of an affordable mass-transit option is particularly concerning.The immediate trigger is a payment dispute involving more than Rs 15 crore. TCRPL said dues have remained unpaid for over six months, leaving it struggling to meet daily expenses, including CNG costs and staff salaries. A company representative said delayed payments from Faridabad had compounded the problem.GMCBL, meanwhile, issued a notice seeking an explanation for the disruption and the alleged failure to operate buses according to the agreed schedule and performance standards.Under an agreement signed in 2019, TCRPL was initially assigned 100 buses in the city. Their deployment was later split between Gurgaon and Faridabad, with 50 buses operating in each city. The company is paid Rs 96 per kilometre. In the city, the buses serve eight routes. GMCBL has a total fleet of around 200 buses.TCRPL issued a final notice last week before suspending services. Operations stopped on Oct 8, resumed briefly on Oct 9 and halted again from Oct 10, leaving 100 buses across the two cities off the roads.GMCBL said discussions were under way to resolve the dispute. A spokesperson said buses were expected to resume services on Friday, but did not explain the terms of any proposed settlement.
