The fear over coronavirus is taking a toll on ridership of state transport corporations with the KSRTC flagging a 20% decline in the number of passengers making reservations.
All corporations have begun sanitising exercise with KSRTC and BMTC sending out pictures of the buses being cleaned through social media. Officials at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had said on Monday that the trains and metro station premises were being cleaned with disinfectants. Officials at KSRTC said they take about 21,000 bookings per day. “The numbers started declining gradually from March 3. However, the major slump was seen on March 8 when the number of the bookings on that day came down to around 17,000. Since then, it has not picked up,” a senior official said, adding that the cancellations have jumped from 8% to 12%.
BMRCL officials noted that March was a lean month for Namma Metro in terms of ridership. “Due to exam holidays and term holidays for students, March sees a decline in ridership. There is no major change in the numbers for Monday. We have to see the trend for a few more days before arriving at a conclusion,” a senior official said.
The BMTC said there was hardly any difference. “Holiday to schools does not affect our revenue as students travel with bus pass,” an official said.
The railways too seemed to be unaffected as on Tuesday with Bengaluru division officials stating that there was no change in the bookings.
“We book about 3 lakh tickets from the division and the numbers for the last two days have not shown any change,” Divisional Railway Manager Ashok Kumar Verma said.
Medical help is also being extended to passengers not feeling well at railway stations. Quarantine wards have been created as a precautionary measure for treatment of people who feel sick.
