With more relaxations for economic activities and permission to run bus services with full capacity, the Hubballi-headquartered North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) has made all preparations to run additional buses starting Monday.
Anticipating more movement of people for business and office works, NWKRTC will be running additional buses from Monday and it plans to increase its revenue.
It might be recalled that like other transport corporations in the State, NWKRTC too faced severe funds crunch and had difficulty in mobilising funds even to pay salaries of workers.
Under Unlock 2.0, public transport services were allowed to operate only with 50% capacity, which, in fact, caused further losses to the corporation.
But it was necessary to help the public. Now, with permission to operate with full capacity, the revenue collection will automatically improve, Divisional Controller of Hubballi Division of NWKRTC H. Ramanagoudar has said.
The Hubballi Division had initially begun with services of 127 buses during Unlock 2.0 and subsequently, it was increased to 250 to 255 buses daily.
Around 40,000 to 45,000 people travelled by these buses daily bringing in a daily revenue of ₹22 lakh to ₹25 lakh. The revenue was double this during pre-COVID-19 period, Mr. Ramanagoudar said.
At present, the division is operating buses to taluk centres and on important routes.
And, now services will be extended to more villages and other districts. As traffic is more towards Belagavi, Gadag, Haveri, Shirahatti, Kalghatgi, Kundgol, Laxmeshwar, Hanagal and other places, more buses are likely to be run on these routes. However, buses to Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Davangere and other places will be decided based on demand.
Night travel
Mr. Ramanagoudar said that as there was no ban on operation of bus services at night, they will operate regular buses.
“Passengers with reserved tickets, identity cards and other documents can travel at night without any problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, NWKRTC is taking all necessary steps for sanitisation of buses and also bus stations. On Sunday, sanitisation of various bus stations of the Hubballi Division was carried out.
Every day, sanitisation of all buses is taken up on their return to the bus depots. Only the drivers who have received vaccine are being deployed.
And, NWKRTC has appealed to the general public to compulsorily wear face masks during bus travel.
