Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Mangalore : In an  incident reported recently, passengers traveling in a private  bus from Bangalore to Moodbidri, to take part in Ugadi celebrations, stopped the bus halfway through and took the bus crew to task for  the bed bug problem in the bus, which made travel impossible for them.

Though the bed bug menace was common in buses operating between Bangalore and Moodbidri and Bangalore and Mangalore, so far none of the bus operators had bothered much to get rid of the menace which greatly inconvenienced passengers. However, frustrated passengers in a bid do put and end to the menace, refused to travel by the bus recently.

The problem arose in the Nishmitha sleeper coach deluxe bus of the Sugama Tourist of Moodbidri, which was on way to Moodbidri from Gandhinagar in Bangalore. But, the passengers unable to bear with the bed bug menace, forced the driver to stop the bus at Vijayanagara and also intercepted two other buses of the same company.

Though police intervened and tried to pacify the passengers, it was of no use as passengers were adamant that alternate bus be provided for them. The bus crew too were unrelenting and threatened that they would cancel the trip after  refunding the ticket amount. The passengers however wanted them to give this in writing so that they could move court.

Though usually travel between Bangalore and Moodbidri costed Rs 350, taking advantage of the heavy rush during Ugadi, the company had fixed the fare at an exorbitant Rs 500 which added to the fury of the passengers who were already  aqited over the bed bug menace. Finally, yielding to pressure, the bus crew refunded the excess fare collected and made an alternate bus arrangement.

Meanwhile, passengers complained that majority of the buses on the Bangalore- Moodbidri route belonged to a single company while only a handful of KSRTC buses operated on  the route. They also strongly felt that additional buses by the KSRTC on the route, would put a brake to the harassment of passengers by private operators.

Meanwhile, speaking to The Canara Times, Shekhar, Manager of the Moodbidri branch of Nishmitha said “ As the bus that usually operated on the route, was under repair, some other bus was pressed into service. But when there were complaints that there was the bed bug menace, a bus belonging to the Sea Bird company was hired to make alternate arrangements for the passengers.”