Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) moving with the times has decided to give value for money to the passengers by introducing and reintroducing a few people-friendly facilities in its luxury fleet of buses.

There were complaints about withdrawing bottled water given freely to the passengers. As a first step, KSRTC Chairman Gopal Pujari reintroduced this at the Satellite Bus Stand, here on Thursday.

Later, addressing the media after the function, KSRTC MD Umashanker said, “Today three new facilities have been introduced. Distribution of free water bottles had burdened the Corporation; we were forced to stop it. Since there was lot of demand from the passengers we reintroduced it from today. The reason is because the MSIL is supplying the water bottles at a cheaper rate than the private companies.”

Another development is that newspapers are being distributed from today. Apart from Rajahamsa, it will be distributed in other premium buses between 5 am and 11 am. In all, the newspapers will be available in 104 buses and 4000 passengers will be able to read them. It will also be distributed in a few other buses, he said.

KSRTC is also introducing fast tag by installing electronic chips in all its 8,000 fleet of buses. This will help save time as the drivers can just swipe the cards at the tollbooths, he said.

The Corporation has gained the confidence and appreciation of the passengers for its services. The neighbouring States are not giving us new permits to enter their cities. The fear they have is, if they give us permission, the people there would prefer travelling in our buses. Our service is so efficient, said Umashanker.

There are also plans of introducing free water bottles in ordinary buses. In prominent bus stands across the State water bottle dispensing units will be installed and people can buy it by dropping Re. 1 coin, he said.