• KSRTC buses operated only from 7 am to 7 pm on all days except Sundays
• Private buses off the roads citing losses

Mysore/Mysuru: With the State Government on Monday easing lockdown regulations, the City and Mofussil KSRTC buses resumed operations today, albeit on a limited scale, after a 55-day hiatus due to COVID-19 induced lockdown.

The KSRTC had suspended all bus services on Mar.25. Now, the State-run Transport Corporations (KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC) decided to operate buses from today. However, there will be no buses on Sundays until further notice.

Accordingly, city buses operated from the city bus stand and mofussil services from the KSRTC Sub-urban bus stand as before, at 7 this morning, in compliance with the Government order.

A total of 36 buses to destinations such as Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Chamarajanagar, Tumakuru and Mangaluru began their journey from the Sub-urban bus stand from 7 am  till noon, with most of them for Bengaluru.

KSRTC Mysuru Rural Divisional Controller R. Ashok Kumar told ‘Star of Mysore’ this morning that buses will be operated only from 7 am to 7 pm on all days except Sunday. 

Long distance buses to places such as Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and Raichur are not being operated for now due to the time constraint, as buses cannot travel beyond 7 pm.

On the first day today, there was a big demand for buses to Bengaluru, to which the last bus will leave the city at 4 pm, he said.

“Only a maximum of 30 passengers are allowed to travel in a bus in keeping with social distancing norms. Also, all passengers are required to stand  in queues only on yellow square box markings which are drawn at all the platforms. Besides, passengers are thermally screened before they board the buses and it is mandatory for all passengers to wear face masks. Also use of hand sanitisers is a must before boarding. Apart from Bengaluru, buses also plied to Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan etc., which require less than seven hours of journey”, he said and clarified that there is no change in fares.

Mysuru City Divisional Controller S.P. Nagaraj said that city buses have started plying on all routes from 7 am  and the buses will be operated till 7 pm. A total of 69 city buses operated till noon and the response is not found to be that satisfactory. However, the response is expected to pick up in a couple of days, once people start treading out of their homes, he said.

 “The buses are operated in keeping with social distancing and other travel norms specified by the Transport Department,” he pointed out and added that city buses will ply on all days barring Sundays.

However, private buses are off the roads citing losses due to travel restrictions. Mysuru District Private Bus Owners Association Secretary Vajregoda said that although the Government has permitted operation of private buses too, the bus owners will suffer losses due to the cap (maximum of 30 passengers in a bus) on passengers. As such, the Association has decided not to ply buses on any routes for now, he said.