Karnataka - Mysore

KSRTC introduces new services for hassle-free travel during Dasara

MYSORE: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has come out with packages to make travelling to Mysore and its adjoining places of tourist importance convenient during the Dasara festivities from September 30 to October 9. The aim is to provide hassle-free travel between Mysore and Bangalore, and Mysore and other district headquarters.

About 450 additional buses, including Karnataka Sarige, Airavatha, Sheetal and Mayura, will be pressed into service. The number of travellers is expected to go up by 50 per cent this season.

To make intra-city commuting more comfortable and convenient, more air-conditioned buses will be introduced to the existing fleet to facilitate tourists travelling within the city.

Disclosing KSRTC’s plans for Dasara to The Hindu, Divisional Controller (Urban) M.N. Srinivas said 250 additional buses will ply between Mysore and various cities (other than Bangalore) and 200 buses will ply between Mysore and Bangalore. “This year, 100 more buses are being introduced to meet the crowd for Dasara,” he said.

Other than regular services, additional Volvo and Sheetal buses will be introduced on the Mysore-Bangalore route besides the Sarige buses since the number of commuters on this route would be very high, he added.

“In case of additional demand for buses, we have made provision for bringing more buses from other depots. At least 50 to 100 spare buses will be kept ready in case of sudden demand for extra facilities,” Mr. Srinivas said. This year, more buses will ply on the city’s tourist circuit and also to Brindavan Gardens. The KSRTC officers will monitor the rush of passengers and make arrangement for the services.

The station controllers at the city bus-stand and the mofussil bus-stand will coordinate among themselves to arrange buses as and when the demand rises.

“Other than the running of special buses for Dasara, we are working out a mechanism of adding buses to the existing routes in the city based on the passenger load factor,” the Divisional Controller said.

Buses to Chamundi Hills will run constantly since it is the most-visited place during the festivities.

Apart from the station controllers, drivers and conductors have been asked to work extra hours, if necessary.

“We are proposing to extend the intra-city services up to 12 a.m. on select routes during the festivities. This again depends on the movement of passengers at such hours. The number of trips on potential routes here will also go up,” Mr. Srinivas said.

Three more booking counters will operate at the mofussil bus-stand for passengers’ convenience and their working hours would be extended for ten days beginning from September 30.

This year too, special tour packages — Jaladarshini, Giridarshini, and Devadarshini — will operate once a day. Other than this, four “Nagaradarshini” buses have been pressed into service.

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