After a gap of nearly two months over COVID-19 lockdown, KSRTC buses hit the roads on Tuesday and more commuters were found plying between Mysuru and Bengaluru unlike other routes which saw below average passenger load factor.
Only Karnataka Sarige and non-AC buses such as Rajahamsa are being operated.
Commuters started arriving at the Mofussil bus-stand here since morning. The buses are being operated on the intra-district routes and to select districts. No buses are being operated to North Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka from Mysuru.
More than 30 trips had been operated on the Bengaluru route till afternoon and the last service on the route would be at 4 p.m. as the operations had to be shut by 7 p.m. as per the government’s instruction. Within the district, the last service will be at 6 p.m. and there are no services to Nanjangud town, which has some containment zones.
Pedal-operated sanitizer dispensing machines had been introduced at the bus-stand.
KSRTC Divisional Controller (Mysuru rural) Ashok Kumar said commuters are being screened before boarding the buses with thermal scanners. Each passenger wearing masks was allowed to board the bus after mandatory temperature check and applying sanitizers on the hands. Passengers are not allowed to enter the bus without face covers.
He said helpdesks had been set up besides multiple screening points to ensure all commuters are screened.
Mr. Kumar said passenger load on the Bengaluru route was better and response on other routes was average. “We are operating the buses based on the demand with each bus carrying only 30 passengers in each trip.”
Buses are being operated to Shivamogga, Mandya, Hassan, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru and Bengaluru. As of now buses to Hubballi and other North Karnataka districts are not being operated.
Intra-city operations also commenced here on Tuesday but the response from commuters was poor. On day one, 68 buses had been introduced. Each bus was found carrying less than 20 passengers on some routes and the authorities decided to reschedule the operations seeing the number of commuters.
Divisional Controller (Urban) S.P. Nagaraj said, “The passenger movement was not on the expected lines and we hope to see improvement in the coming days since not many people are aware of the launch. However, we are fully prepared to operate more buses if there is sudden rise in demand.”
The city bus-stand has a single entry to board buses but there is no mechanism to screen the passengers boarding buses en route.
