KSRTC passengers cough up toll! 

Risking passengers’ lives: Reports suggest KSRTC buses with no FASTag balance are entering the highway through exit points, making it dangerous, as it is an accident-prone zone. 

Mysuru: In an embarrassing incident for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), passengers travelling from Bengaluru to Mysuru yesterday were forced to pool money to pay the highway toll after the bus ran out of FASTag balance. 

The incident comes at a time when KSRTC is already facing public criticism over the steep 23% hike in bus fares. 

It all began when a group of commuters boarded a non-stop bus to Mysuru at around 7.30 am after purchasing tickets. 

Technical snag 

After picking up passengers and leaving the bus stand, the bus came to a halt near                   Rajajinagar. The driver informed the passengers that the vehicle had developed a technical snag and could not continue the journey. 

The bus was taken back to the Satellite Bus Stand, where the passengers were shifted to another non-stop service.  

The replacement bus proceeded towards Mysuru but stopped near Bidadi after the driver found that its FASTag account had insufficient balance to pay the toll. 

Passengers said, the driver contacted the KSRTC Depot Manager and other officials, but no one took responsibility for resolving the issue. 

Officials told the driver that the matter did not come under their jurisdiction. The passengers were left stranded inside the bus near the toll plaza for nearly one-and-a-half hours. 

With no immediate solution in sight, some passengers suggested pooling money to pay the toll and resume the journey.  

Though a few objected, money was eventually collected from willing passengers who paid the driver, who then paid the toll through UPI. 

The bus then resumed its journey towards Mysuru.  

Five-hour delay 

Passengers further said that it later left the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway and took the service road to bypass payment at the Gananguru toll plaza near Srirangapatna before rejoining the highway.  

The bus finally reached the Mysuru bus stand at around 12.30 pm, nearly five hours after leaving Bengaluru. 

Not an isolated case 

Many reports suggest that several KSRTC buses operating between Bengaluru and Mysuru were facing similar FASTag issues.  

The passengers informed Star of Mysore that many times, non-stop buses which are supposed to take the highway for fast service end up taking the service road at entry points, which is not only illegal but also dangerous. 

H.T. Veeresh, Divisional Controller, KSRTC, Mysuru Rural Division, speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, said: “There has been no such issue in a Mysuru Depot bus. FASTag accounts have to be recharged from respective depot accounts. Passengers cannot recharge them. Also, toll charges cannot be paid in cash either. So, how did the bus cross the toll plaza? This needs to be investigated.”