in view of the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon , a time when the number of people commuting in the buses are far less as compared to morning and evening hours , and in a city like ludhiana , where the majority of people do not prefer the bus anyways , which therefore led to even a sparser number of passengers in these off-peak hours , it was no surprise that when vikram arrived at the bus stop , he found it more or less in a deserted state .