Though inter-district air-conditioned (AC) bus services resumed on June 25, there are not many takers. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had planned to resume the services by operating 20 buses on different routes, but the poor response has forced it to scale down operations and run only around five to six buses.
Even in routes served by non-AC buses, there has been a drop in passengers to districts including Bengaluru, which have seen a spike in COVID-19 cases.
“We are hoping that patronage may increase in the coming days. On certain routes we have operated only one bus. On the Bengaluru-Mysuru route, we are running two buses for the time being and the number of services will be increased as per the demand,” said a KSRTC official. An increasing number of positive cases in several districts has impacted the ridership of non-AC buses. According to the official, the number of people travelling in KSRTC buses had crossed over 3 lakh, but over the last few days, it has come down to 2.5 lakh.
“The travelling patterns of people are related to the rise or fall in the number of COVID-19 positive cases. Till last week, we had seen a gradual increase in the ridership but now it has considerably reduced.” The number of people travelling to Bengaluru from various destinations has reduced. On June 25, the KSRTC resumed the services after a gap of over three months.
Private bus operators, who are operating intra-State services from Bengaluru, are suffering huge losses.
Nataraj Sharma, chairperson of Karnataka State Travel Operators’ Association, said, “Prior to the lockdown, around 1,600 buses were operated between Bengaluru and various destinations within the State. Now, hardly a few buses are running. Even on weekends, buses are running empty.”
On Saturday, a few night services were operated between Bengaluru and Mangaluru, but the operator did not find even eight passengers per bus. “We had resumed services to boost confidence among the public, but a poor patronage means huge losses,” Mr. Sharma added.
