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Mysore rural depot witnesses 20 pc increase in occupancy rate

Following the recent fire mishaps in Volvo buses belonging to private operators that claimed several lives, there is a surge in passenger traffic in KSRTC buses.

What began with the Mahbubnagar mishap in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that claimed lives of 45 passengers on October 30, is likely to improve further with a similar mishap in Haveri district, on Thursday, that reduced seven to cinders.

KSRTC Mysore rural division that operates 60 inter-state trips per day, connecting Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai — via Bangalore — has witnessed an increase of 10 to 20 per cent occupancy, Divisional Controller P V Srinivas told Deccan Herald.

On weekends and Monday, the passenger occupancy has touched 100 per cent against earlier 80 per cent. Even on week days, there is a spurt in numbers from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.

A majority of the buses are plied on the Mysore and Bangalore route, with each bus touching two trips per day, while the remaining will be operated to other States. The seating capacity in the inter-state buses are 45. Similarly, multi-axle buses (Volvo) are run to Mangalore and Shimoga, besides Kozhikode, Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi, and Kottayam in Kerala.

Srinivas claimed, what turned the tide in favour of public sector is the safety measures in place against ‘reckless’ private parties. The maximum speed limit is 90 km/hr. For example, if the private buses reach 600 km far Andhra Pradesh in 13 hours (from Karnataka), KSRTC buses take 16 hours.

 The drivers, especially for Volvo, are selected after gruelling training procedure up to one month. It’s only those drivers having 20 to 30 years of on-road experience, who are allowed to take the driver’s seat. To hold mirror to the rigorous training schedule, of 15 to 20 selected for training (as and when the demand arises), only five to six make it. To keep a tab on the maintenance of buses, the company deputes its technical team to every depot.

A tourist operator said, the occupancy rate in private buses have dipped from 80 per cent to 50 per cent after the mishaps. Apart from operating to tourist destinations, private buses were closely competing with KSRTC on the aforementioned inter-state routes.

Divisional Controller, Urban, H C Ramesh said, 36 Volvo buses are operated on city route too, to tourist destinations like Chamundi Hill, KRS and Infosys.

For city buses, the speed limit is 60 km/hour. It was first introduced in the year 2009 with 30 buses procured under the Centre’s ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). Following the demand, five more buses were gradually added to the existing fleet.