Commuters in Mysore will soon have more buses at their disposal; the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is set to add at least 275 buses to the existing fleet in the next few months, to upscale its operations in the city.
Thanks to the growing demand for public transport arising from Mysore’s horizontal growth, managers of intra-city bus services here are chalking out plans to increase the number of schedules to suit the needs of commuters living in residential townships on the outskirts of the city.
Divisional Controller (Urban), KSRTC Mysore, B.C. Ganganna Gowda told The Hindu that 75 low-floor buses were being built in the corporation’s workshop; they will be added to the fleet shortly. With the Centre’s flagship programme — Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) — extended to 2014, KSRTC has sought 200 buses for Mysore, one of the cities marked under the mission in Karnataka.
Mr. Gowda, who assumed charge recently, said the Mysore urban division has set its eyes on upscaling operations owing to a rising demand for affordable public transport. “Once the new buses are added to the fleet, daily schedules will go up and many new localities will be covered in KSRTC’s public transport service,” he explained.
First phase
Currently, the Mysore KSRTC division has a fleet of 450 buses, including 45 Volvo buses and 41 Tata Marcopolo buses. It added nearly 200 buses in the first phase of JnNURM three years ago, and operates around 6,000 trips a day.
“We do not how many buses the division will get this time, but we are confident of a major boost to the existing transport system,” Mr. Gowda said.
He added that there was still scope for enhancing the infrastructure here and extending more services and facilities to commuters.
Responding to complaints about rickety buses, the divisional controller said all buses were maintained well, but there were always exceptions to the rule. “We cannot simply withdraw old buses because they are noisy and don’t run fast. As per the norm, the old buses can be withdrawn from service only after completing 7.5 lakh km. We will look into the issue,” he said.
In a drive to encourage people to use public transport, KSRTC has introduced the concept of a ‘Bus Day’.
