A three-member sub committee comprising the transport secretary and managing directors of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and the Vytilla Mobility Hub has been asked to recommend interim measures to improve the functioning of the mobility hub till KSRTC was in a position to operate circular night services centered around the hub.
The decision came at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to iron out the problems borne out of the reluctance of KSRTC to operate circular night services through the hub. The sub-committee has been asked to submit the report within a week, said M. Beena, managing director of the Vytilla Mobility Hub.
She said that the meeting approved in principle to ensure the optimum utilization of the hub by operating all long distance buses through it.
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Transport Minister V.S. Sivakumar said that KSRTC will operate feeder services from the hub to Western Kochi and other interior areas of the city and back. For this, KSRTC will buy 100 buses using the funds allocated in the budget.
KSRTC took the position that purchasing the buses and deploying it for circular services as demanded would take six months.
It was in this context that the sub-committee was entrusted with submitting a report on the possibilities for expanding the night time city services as an interim measure. A decision was taken to continue with the existing system till an interim arrangement is put in place.
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Ministers K. Babu and V.K. Ibrahim Kunju, MLAs Dominic Presentation, Benny Behanan, and Hibi Eden, Mayor Tony Chammany, Transport Secretary Jyothilal, KSRTC CMD Alexander Luke and general manager G. Venugopal, and Ms. Beena were among those present.
The inability of KSRTC to operate circular night services had prevented the Vytilla Mobility Hub from operating to its full potential creating much furore.
At present, the long distance KSRTC buses are operating through the hub between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. only.