3,000 new buses for public transport
The state government will purchase as many as 3,000 buses this year to augment its public transportation fleet. The purchases will begin after April.
Of the new buses, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) get 1,000 vehicles each, NEKSRTC gets 600 and NWKSRTC will be allotted 500 buses. The purchase includes 1,000 ordinary buses, Principal Secretary to Transport Department, M K Shankaralingegowda told Deccan Herald.
The BMTC, at present has a fleet of 6,000 buses of which 5,000 are ordinary ones. It has been proposed to replace 500 old buses this year since public prefer ordinary buses over Volvos. All the buses except 100 meant for KSRTC are ordinary ones.
Usually, 10 pc of the fleet is replaced every year. Vehicles which have covered five lakh km in the City will be plyed on mofussil routes.
‘No budgetary allocation’
The old buses would be deployed on short-distance urban routes. Though the buses are fit to cover 10 lakh km, they are being replaced after 7.5 lakh km, except in Bangalore. The government do not provide budgetary allocation for purchases and the Corporations meet the expenses out of their income accruals. They would borrow money if necessary, Gowda said. Each bus that the BMTC would purchase costs Rs 25 lakh.
It has also been proposed to introduce city services in large cities with huge population. The buses would ply in a radius of 10 km and the service would soon commence in Tumkur and Mandya.
