• City buses, Mysuru-Bengaluru trips to resume
• No mask, no travelling; sanitisation after each trip

Mysore/Mysuru: After a gap of two months, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses are ready to hit the streets in Mysuru District from tomorrow (Monday). All inter-city and inter-district bus services will resume. For now, there will be no inter-State buses. 

However, the Government has allowed to only 50 percent passengers in each bus and standing of passengers has been banned. Face mask has been made compulsory for every passenger. In the first phase, 100 city buses and 195 buses for rural areas will be allowed. The number of buses will be increased depending upon passenger demand.

According to KSRTC officers, the bus service will resume from 6 am from tomorrow and as many as 100 buses from four city depots will resume its services. 

A total, 1,965 employees work in Mysuru Division out of which 100 employees, who are suffering from several ailments, have not been vaccinated as per medical advice. Those employees have been given exemption from duty. Though bus service was suspended on Apr. 28, buses were regularly maintained by the mechanics to keep them in the good condition. The drivers and conductors, who have received both the vaccine doses, will get first priority. A majority of them have taken the first dose and are waiting for their turn to receive the second dose. 

After each trip, every bus will be sanitised in both city and rural depots. However, there will be no inter-State bus services till further orders. The KSRTC authorities are keeping their fingers crossed on the response of public to re-introduction of city and inter-district bus services.

Cash for tickets

The authorities of BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation), during initial days of resumption of city service a few days ago, had asked conductors to receive the ticket money through QR code instead of cash. But, as far as Mysuru Division is concerned, passengers can make cash payment to buy ticket.

Initially, we will operate 100 buses from the city depot. Those who have received two doses are reporting for duty. For time being, there will be no rural service. Buses will be operated from 6 am to 8 pm on main roads. – S.P. Nagaraj, Divisional Controller, Mysuru City Division

We are not starting buses from Mysuru to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Decision on starting inter-State buses will be decided after studying the situation. Passengers are already booking tickets to Mangaluru, Udupi, Gokarna, Moodabidri and other long distance night services. Additional buses will be introduced depending upon demand. —Hemanth Kumar, Divisional Traffic Officer, Mysuru Rural Division