The District Development Committee (DDC), district committee of CPI, and RTI activists have decried inadequate KSRTC bus services within Kochi city and from here to neighbouring towns and districts.
This comes in the wake of just about 3,000 of KSRTC’s total fleet of 6,000 buses operating regular services in the State, and the agency pruning services in most intra-city and mofussil routes from Kochi during the past few years. It also withdrew most of its low-floor AC and non-AC buses.
The depleting fleet utility of KSRTC came in for criticism recently from, among others, the DDC, with MLAs demanding in unison the resumption of services that were halted in the wake of the pandemic. The delay in beginning ‘Grama Vandi’ services too came in for criticism.
Ernakulam MLA T.J. Vinod demanded restructuring the routes of feeder services of Bypass Rider buses and extension of their services to Kadavanthra, Pachalam, and Vaduthala. These buses mostly operate circular services through the NH Bypass.
Following this, District Collector Renu Raj directed KSRTC to convene a meeting of people’s representatives.
Sources in KSRTC attributed the low patronage of feeder buses that began operating earlier this year to, among other reasons, the white and orange stripe texture on the body. “Commuters thus mistake them for KSRTC’s workshop vans. It would be ideal if they too are repainted in red and yellow shade, which is now being done to ordinary buses. We hope to operate them through newer routes, in order to improve patronage,” they said.
Vypeen MLA K.N. Unnikrishnan demanded that students concession be extended to children who relied on KSRTC buses that operated through the Container Road.
Inadequate KSRTC services in the Ernakulam-Muvattupuzha route and those linking suburban towns too have been warranting attention.
On their part, members who attended the district meeting of CPI expressed concern at hardly half the total 6,000 buses that KSRTC owned operating regular services. The transport utility operated as many as 5,500 buses till the pandemic, helping as many as 35 lakh commuters. “The termination of services of temporary bus crew has led to 3,000 of the buses idling,” they said, and demanded that the agency be brought under direct control of the State government.
Expressing dismay at the plight of KSRTC, Raju Vazhakkala, a city-based RTI activist demanded that the agency operate at least 5,000 of its buses daily, based on demand from passengers. “It is shocking that the agency, which has bus-staff ratio as high as 1:8, has cut down its operations. The management must learn from private bus operators who rake in profits by optimal deployment of crew,” he said.
Most of Kochi Metro’s feeder services, mainly the ones to Infopark from metro stations, too are having very low patronage, he said.
