Khan Buses Ltd will cease its Lautoka‑Nadi services from today because of the impact on business caused by the COVID-19 lockdown of Lautoka City.
Company director Mohammed Naved Khan said they tried to map out ways to service the route but could not as illegal operators had taken over.
“We are the only company that is operating the Nadi-Lautoka route and we cannot operate any service because of the current lockdown,” Mr Khan said.
“We tried doing split services this morning (yesterday) from both the Nadi and Lautoka end but it did not work out for us and our drivers ended up taking only three to five passengers in one trip.
“We have worked out ways we can operate our services but it did not work out so the viability is just to cease all our services for the Lautoka-Nadi route until Government lifts the current ban.”
Mr Khan said they received the full brunt of the lockdown because they were the only firm that serviced the Nadi-Lautoka corridor along the Queens Rd.
He said they hoped things would normalise after 14 days so they could resume services between Nadi and Lautoka.
Meanwhile, KBL Buses manager Abdul Nazim Khan said all their buses were operating normal services for most of their Field 40 subdivision routes.
The Lautoka Bus Station was about 50 per cent empty yesterday and most buses had as little as 10 passengers per trip.
