The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 1,000 buses added to KSRTC fleet in a year

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

1,000 buses added to KSRTC fleet in a year

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 29. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has achieved a record of sorts by adding over 1,000 buses to its fleet in the current financial year.

The Minister for Water Resources and Transport, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, today flagged off the 1,000th bus added to the fleet. He also flagged off 16 other new buses of the corporation.

Mr. Kharge said the KSRTC has surpassed its target of inducting 980 buses in the financial year.

The vehicles added include 16 air-conditioned Mayura buses, 124 ultra deluxe Rajahamsa buses, 60 semi-deluxe buses, 629 express coaches (Karnataka Sarige), six express deluxe buses, and 161 ordinary buses or suburban and Grameena Sarige (rural transport) buses. The Bangalore Central division of the KSRTC gets 232 of the buses, Bangalore Rural division 53, Kolar 87, Tumkur 76, Mysore Urban 99, Mysore Rural 91, Hassan 46, Mangalore 157, Davangere 120 and Chikmagalur 55, M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Managing Director, KSRTC, said.

Volvo buses

He said the KSRTC is planning to add 40 Volvo buses to take the number of such buses in its fleet to 80.

Mr. Kharge said 2,000 buses have been included in the fleet of State-owned transport undertakings in the country in the current financial year. The KSRTC tops the list with 1,016 buses. Mr. Kharge said the Government has released Rs. 12 crores to the KSRTC, and Rs. 9 crores each to the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and the North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) for building infrastructure such as bus stands and amenities such as toilets and midway facilities. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has released Rs. 15 crores for purchasing Volvo buses, he said.

The Minister said pilferage will be reduced with the increased use of ticketing machines. The NEKRTC has introduced 1,000 of them.

He said the transport undertakings will discuss the impact of the proposed increase in the prices of diesel and decide on fare hike.

Mr. Kharge said a high-powered task force on transport is looking into the issue of providing dedicated lanes for BMTC buses in the city. He will decide after the task force gives its recommendations, he added.

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