KSRTC inks pacts with other states to boost services

Maiden agreement with Gujarat; Corporation to ply 60 buses in that state

 The Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has inked agreements with its counterparts in other states and the process is on to revive the agreements to enhance its fleet of buses in those states.

As per its first inter-state transport agreement with Gujarat, the KSRTC will ply buses in Surat, Ahmedabad and other cities of that state in the next two to three months.
The corporation will ply 60 buses on 14 routes on 13444-service km in Gujarat, while Gujarat will run 35 buses on 11 routes on 12151-service km in Karnataka, besides the special arrangement during fairs and festivals.

Similarly, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, which had signed such a pact in 2008, have issued a draft notification on increasing the fleet of buses in both the territories.
However, with carving out of Seemandhra and Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, both the state transport undertakings are now tweaking the agreement.

No response from TN

However, the KSRTC has not received any response from the Tamil Nadu government for its proposal to revive the agreement signed in 2008, seeking to add more routes and buses. The two state operators have divergent opinions on bus parity. With the Kerala government, a meeting was held in January this year to revive and supplement the old agreement and to ply 101 buses on 29 routes by KSRTC.

The team of officials had even visited Bangalore, but a final communication has not yet come from the Kerala State Transport Corporation.

The KSRTC officials said the process of amending agreements to enhance its fleet and routes in Puducherry and Goa is in progress.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, KSRTC Managing Director N Manjunath Prasad said: “We have signed the agreements with our neighbouring states and they are revived and reviewed every four years. Within two to three months, we will ply more buses on some new routes after the respective final notification of each state. As of now, we are at different stages of the agreement process with each of these states”.