After a long time, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is set to purchase new Airavat Club Class buses and Airavat sleeper buses into its fleet, enhancing the comfort of long-distance travellers.
The KSRTC, which hasn’t introduced any new Airavat buses for almost five years, has now issued a tender to induct 40 new buses to replace the old Airavat ones.
The premier services provided by KSRTC have garnered numerous accolades for the corporation. However, passengers have been urging the corporation to remove the old fleet of Airavat buses, as they fail to deliver the promised experience encapsulated in the Airavat service’s tagline: “Sleep like a baby.”
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior KSRTC official said, “We have issued a tender to acquire new Airavat buses, which will replace the older ones shortly. A total of 40 multi axial buses will be procured through the tender.”
According to their policy, the corporation retires an AC bus after it has traveled more than 13 lakh km. Currently, KSRTC operates 8,234 buses, including 475 premium buses.
Officials said that these buses will be 15-metres-long, long-distance travel buses powered by BS-VI engines. Each bus will feature 40 seats for maximum comfort, all air-conditioned and equipped with berths. These berths will have PU cushions made of CFC-free material, at least 75 mm thick, and upholstered with Grade-1 quality rexene.
Each passenger berth will include a pillow, and luxury/executive-type backrest with an ergonomically contoured profile will be provided for all passenger berths. The buses will also come with three cameras: one facing the front for traffic monitoring, one at the rear for parking, and one in the gangway area to surveil passenger movements. Additionally, the buses will be equipped with Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) with emergency panic buttons and a fire detection and suppression system.
