The State government will be spending up to ₹650 crore to procure more than 3,000 buses to replace its ageing fleet as well as to use in newer routes. Delivery of buses will begin in August.
According to Ashok Leyland, which bagged the order, the company will provide buses for the Karnataka Sarige, Rajahamsa, non-AC sleeper and ‘Midi’ categories of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Other buses will be distributed among the North-Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC).
The order comes in the backdrop of the withdrawal of a case by Tata Motors, which had approached the High Court in May against the procurement. The petition had claimed that awarding the tender to Ashok Leyland was ‘arbitrary’.
New routes to Kerala
KSRTC has signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterpart in Kerala to run buses on five additional routes. The agreement also allows for exemption from State taxes on 250 buses annually which are operated on casual contract basis during the Sabarimala season, summer season, various festivals.
KSRTC can now operate new services on five routes covering 4,314 km. They are Bengaluru-Pattanamthitta, Kundapura-Thiruvananthapuram, Kundapura-Kottayam, Manipal-Ernakulam and Kollur-Guruvayur.
“It will take two more months for the details to be finalised, following which we can run these buses,” said R. Umashankar, Managing Director, KSRTC.
From the other end, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation will operate new services on seven routes covering 4,420 km in Karnataka.
