Tuesday, April 1, 2014

KSRTC to extend bus service to major cities from Kuvempunagar

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation had recently started a bus service from Kuvempunagar being one of the city's major residential extension directly to Bangalore. Though the response from the residents is lukewarm, KSRTC has not incurred any losses on this trip, with always a minimum of 25 to 30 passengers availing the  service daily in a bus.

This has made KSRTC think of further extending the services to other major cities. When KSRTC officials conducted a survey it was found on an average 25 to 35 residents of Kuvempunagar daily travelled to places like Chikmagalur, Hassan and Madikeri. To facilitate these passengers KSRTC has planned to ply buses from Kuvempunagar to  these routes.

With the services being started from second week of March, commuters can board directly from Kuvempunagar bus-stand and can save the time travelling to Sub Urban Busstand. Daily three buses will ply at a frequency of one hour 6 am, 7 am and 8 am. The buses will return back after ending the trip.

KSRTC Divisional Controller (Rural) BV Srinivas said that they are expecting around 30 passengers every day on this route and after learning over the response, the service will be extended in a phased manner to other areas in city.

'The total journey time of the passengers will be cut down with the introduction of these buses. To start with only ordinary Express buses will be introduced,' he said. He further added that more number of passengers are now availing e-booking of tickets and are making on-line reservations. Following which around 25 per cent of tickets are booked on-line everyday.

Passengers traffic up
Due to increase in passenger traffic more number of buses are being added to routes such as Nanjangud, HD Kote, Sargur, Hunsur, Malavalli, Mandya and other Taluks. The buses to Nanjangud ply in a frequency of every 10 minutes, followed by every 15 minutes to HD Kote, Hunsur, Mandya, added Srinivas.

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'Peak Hours Service' to facilitate commuters soon


The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Mysore Division will shortly introduce 'Peak Hours Service' (PHS) to a few selected localities based on the existing data of revenue collections and demand from commuters. This will be of great benefit for the daily commuters traversing these routes.

As per the plan, KSRTC will deploy five additional buses during peak hours, between 8 am and 12 noon and again between 4 pm and 8 pm beginning from March. With more number of buses plying in the morning and evening peak hours commuters, especially those who work in shifts will be greatly benefited. If the response from the public for these trial runs are good, then similar services will be extended to other areas as well.

Based on the data of revenue collections (average of Rs 35 per kilo meter on a route), officials have selected JP Nagar, Infosys, Sathgalli and Kuvempunagar on a pilot basis. An additional Rs 200 will be provided as incentive for the driver and conductor per day plying on these routes after the implementation of the project.

After the introduction of PHS services, plans are there to cut-off the frequency of buses in the non-peak hours. During the peak time a bus in these areas will ply in a frequency of every five minutes and additional forty trips will be made during the peak hours.

KSRTC Divisional Controller HM Ramesh said that the project will help drivers and conductors to earn extra money for their livelihood, and wastage of fuel can be prevented, which will conserve environment.  The central office has given the nod for the project where 20 extra buses will be introduced in four selected routes. After studying the feedback the same will be extended to other routes.


The aim of KSRTC is to enhance the bus service in city and encourage more people to adopt public transport. With the introduction of additional bus service the number of complaints received regarding infrequent bus services is expected to come down apart from cutting down longer wait times,  over-crowding, and less reliable service, added Ramesh.

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