As foreseen, the passenger load during Dasara celebrations in Mysuru went up by nearly 30-40 percent and the key reason for the increase in the number of commuters is attributed to ‘Shakti’ — the scheme that offers free rides for women in Karnataka State transport buses.
When the city was hosting the festivities, there was a surge of visitors to Mysuru and the Dasara finale saw unprecedented crowd thronging the city to witness the grand spectacle.
In total, 11.07 lakh passengers, including 6.40 lakh women, travelled to Mysuru this Dasara. The highest passenger traffic was between Mysuru and Bengaluru and about 350 trips were operated almost daily between the cities.
The Mysuru division of KSRTC ran special buses to cater to the demand and it had to bank on the neighbouring districts for the additional fleet of buses necessary to for expand the trips.
KSRTC Divisional Controller (Mysuru) Srinivas said the revenue earned by the division in a span of ten days was around ₹5.47 crore. This has been the highest income that the division earned so far during the festivities. During the last Dasara, the division earned a revenue of ₹3.19. The number of commuter went up substantially increasing the revenue this year.
“It is perhaps a record for the division as it successfully handled 11.07 lakh passengers,” he maintained.
Anticipated crowd
The management of KSRTC in Mysuru had projected that the passenger load may touch five lakh during Dasara due to Shakti and accordingly, it had made arrangements, including deploying buses from the neighbouring districts for operating Dasara special buses. The division had mobilised additional buses to operate from October 15 till the month-end, in anticipation of heavy rush of travellers.
But, the load exceeded their anticipation as over 11 lakh travelled.
Extra buses
In addition to 1,000-plus buses, the division ran 350 extra buses on various routes to handle the rush. Additional drivers and conductors had also been deployed accordingly from neighbouring districts for operating the extra buses, including Sarige, Rajahamsa, and Airavata.
The division ran about 350 trips, including luxury and premium services, to Bengaluru. The schedules went up during Dasara with substantial rise in traffic between Mysuru and Bengaluru.
The city bus terminus also witnessed considerable traffic to Chamundi Hills and Brindavan Gardens during Dasara.
The Mysuru Division, with the support from Mandya and Chamarajanagar KSRTC divisions, increased its fleet to meet the rush of commuters. This year, with Shakti in place, it was anticipated that the rush of commuters was going to be more than the previous years because of the free rides, the division also approached districts such as Hassan and Chikkamagaluru Divisions besides Mandya and Chamarajanagar for borrowing buses for augmenting the special Dasara operations.
In July and August months, the average daily passenger load was 3.75 to 3.80 lakh. However, in September, the load had moderately dropped with 3.55 lakh passengers travelling daily. With the start of Shravana, the number of commuters increased with a series of festivals ahead.
An average of ₹80 lakh a day was the amount the division was spending for operating the free rides and the same was being sought for reimbursement from the government.
