With 85 new BS-IV buses added to its fleet in a span of two months, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will soon launch intra-city services to some residential localities through the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
The launch has been delayed owing to scarcity of crew members, according to sources in the KSRTC.
Buses will largely travel on the ORR, rather than traversing on interior roads, to connect to localities closer to the six-lane carriageway. Many new layouts have come up beyond the ORR, which is a 42-km stretch covering the entire city, that links the key roadways.
Delay in launch
“The ORR bus service is happening soon. We could not launch as planned for various reasons. The launch will take place within a fortnight. The schedules have been kept ready,” said Ramamurthy, KSRTC Mysuru Divisional Controller. Speaking to The Hindu, he said eight to ten buses will ply exclusively on the ORR routes connecting localities that are closer to the carriageway.
The Mysuru fleet has 475 buses, including 85 newly-commissioned camera-enabled hi-tech buses, and over 430 schedules were operated daily. As many as 6,600 trips were operated daily with about 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh commuters travelling daily.
Among the 7 to 8 lakh-plus cities in the State, Mysuru is the only city which has over 450-plus buses for intra-city operations, he maintained.
Public demand
Asked whether there was public demand for operating buses along the ORR, Mr. Ramamurthy said, “There were suggestions from commuters for operating buses on the ORR since many localities have come up around and beyond it. Though some buses intermittently operate on the road en route to other areas, the exclusive service will commence soon.”
Mr. Ramamurthy said the quota of buses the city was expecting under JNNURM Phase II had been allotted to the city and no new buses were slated to be added to the fleet this year. “The Central office may allot new buses later,” he added.
Here to stay
He said the division had no plans to phase out old buses with the commissioning of new buses.
“The old buses had travelled 6 to 7 lakh km and can continue to be in service as they still are in a good condition. We cannot phase out old buses because we have new ones, as we cannot run only new buses on all routes,” he said.
