Kolkata: Peak hour commuters had a difficult time as more than 7,000 private buses remained off roads following a strike call in protest against the "insufficient bus fare hike" announced by the State Government last week.

The strike call was given by Bengal Bus Syndicate and Joint Council of Bus Syndicate protesting against the revision of the bus fare by the Transport Department following the recent petrol price hike. The bus unions with a membership of 7,500 private and mini buses have been demanding a hike in fare in the initial stage which had not been revised by the State Government.

The State Transport Minister Subhash Chakroborty has already rejected the demand saying that the revision has been done after considering the requirements of the bus operators as well as the commuters.

The city main thoroughfares gave a look of relatively thin traffic on a Monday morning while a large number of commuters were seen waiting at bus stops trying to reach their destinations by alternative modes of transport.

The State run buses as well as tram cars and taxis were operating but were obviously insufficient to cope up with the peak hour demand.