Inflexible schedules, unexpected trip cancellations and the yet-to-be improved urban-village connectivity still haunt services by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and cut short the chance to increase its revenues in Kozhikode. Though the Kozhikode depot has 125 buses, including reserve ones, only 74 are now being operated with available staff.
The rural services earlier launched to connect the city with Thottilpalam, Kuttiyadi, Mukkom and Thiruvambady regions are yet to be successful with the odd timings selected for the operations. Though commuters to such rural areas prefer to have late evening trips from 8 p.m., as there are no private buses available, the authorities are yet to consider such a convenient schedule. Still now, the services to such distant locations start several hours late, which naturally discourages commuters from using the services.
“The inconsistency in operating some of the daily KSRTC schedules to villages too has created displeasure among commuters. We are not sure if a newly launched service will continue as such for sometime and people can really trust it,” says Sandeep, a resident of Thottilpalam. He points out that KSRTC can easily win passengers and overcome its financial crisis if it is ready to reschedule the loss-making trips in a scientific way.
KSRTC commuters in villages also point out that the practice of re-deploying buses in the Kozhikode depot to other districts for operating special services should be stopped as it would cripple the already ailing public transport system. They claim that the district is now short of 18 buses which were recently diverted for other special services without meeting the demand here.
