After a gap of nearly two months, KSRTC buses hit the road in Mysuru with the lockdown curbs partially lifted following drop in test positivity rate (TPR). However, the services on the inter-city and intra-city routes evoked poor response.
The Mysuru rural division of KSRTC operated 160 buses (nearly 35 per cent of its total number) to all major destinations within the State and the district. However, inter-State services were yet to commence.
Drivers had to wait for the buses to fill up to 50 per cent to operate. Some services were run based on passenger numbers and the frequency of buses was delayed due to dearth of commuters.
“The passenger response was not encouraging on day one. We hope the response will be better in the coming days as we presume that passengers were unaware of the recommencement of services after a gap of nearly two months. We are operating services in the night as well and they depend on the number of commuters,” said Mysuru Divisional Traffic Officer Dasharath.
Compared to other destinations, the number of commuters on the Bengaluru-Mysuru route was better. “We ran only four AC buses on this route as there was no demand.”
The urban KSRTC division ran 112 buses on the intra-city routes and the services did not evoke good response as expected. Out of 375 buses, 112 were operated.
Divisional Controller S.P. Nagaraj expressed confidence that passenger traffic may pick up in the days ahead. All buses had been properly sanitised at their respective depots. The urban division’s revenue on normal days was ₹30 lakh.
