<p>Once the lockdown is lifted, the government-run Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation will ferry fewer passengers in its buses to comply with physical distancing norms. </p>.<p>Each bus will allow not more than 26-30 passengers for 54 seats, a top official told Metrolife. The decision will halve revenue, but the authorities have not taken any decision on increasing fares.</p>.<p>“We are modifying the seating arrangement. We will allow only half the capacity. As soon as passengers board the bus, they will have to follow alternate seating arrangements with a considerable gap between two people,” a senior official with KSRTC told Metrolife.</p>.<p>He says the buses, usually crowded with standing passengers, will not allow standing travel as it violates the physical distance principle. “Masks for our crew will be made compulsory, we will provide sanitisers for passengers. We will disinfect every bus completely before and after a trip,” he adds.</p>.<p>KSRTC will also maintain a record with the name, address and contact numbers of all passengers on board. “Earlier, we had no details and found it difficult to track down passengers who were possibly infected by the virus. Most passengers were unreserved. Only people who booked online were required to provide these details. But now, we will record details of all passengers,” he says.</p>.<p>Thousands of people across the state, told to stay put since a two-week lockdown was announced on 25 March, were expecting travel to their native places on April 15, the day the restrictions were to end. But the government has decided to continue the lockdown till May 3. </p>.<p>Despite the uncertainty, the KSRTC had 5,600 ticket reservations over the past few days, and 90 per cent of the bookings were for April 15. A majority of these bookings were made online. All of them have now been cancelled, and refunds initiated. “The money will be credited to passengers’ bank accounts. Those who had reserved tickets at our counters can get refunds by showing their tickets at our counters,” says B T Prabhakar Reddy, divisional controller, KSRTC.</p>.<p><strong>Huge fleet</strong></p>.<p>With a fleet of 8,744 buses KSRTC transports an average of 30.12 lakh passengers every day. Sixteen southern Karnataka districts are covered by the KSRTC. Amid the clampdown on public travel, it has deployed 70 buses to transport municipal employees, medical staff, and government officials. It has also allowed the use of 13 bus stands as vegetable, grocery, or cocoon markets.</p>
<p>Once the lockdown is lifted, the government-run Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation will ferry fewer passengers in its buses to comply with physical distancing norms. </p>.<p>Each bus will allow not more than 26-30 passengers for 54 seats, a top official told Metrolife. The decision will halve revenue, but the authorities have not taken any decision on increasing fares.</p>.<p>“We are modifying the seating arrangement. We will allow only half the capacity. As soon as passengers board the bus, they will have to follow alternate seating arrangements with a considerable gap between two people,” a senior official with KSRTC told Metrolife.</p>.<p>He says the buses, usually crowded with standing passengers, will not allow standing travel as it violates the physical distance principle. “Masks for our crew will be made compulsory, we will provide sanitisers for passengers. We will disinfect every bus completely before and after a trip,” he adds.</p>.<p>KSRTC will also maintain a record with the name, address and contact numbers of all passengers on board. “Earlier, we had no details and found it difficult to track down passengers who were possibly infected by the virus. Most passengers were unreserved. Only people who booked online were required to provide these details. But now, we will record details of all passengers,” he says.</p>.<p>Thousands of people across the state, told to stay put since a two-week lockdown was announced on 25 March, were expecting travel to their native places on April 15, the day the restrictions were to end. But the government has decided to continue the lockdown till May 3. </p>.<p>Despite the uncertainty, the KSRTC had 5,600 ticket reservations over the past few days, and 90 per cent of the bookings were for April 15. A majority of these bookings were made online. All of them have now been cancelled, and refunds initiated. “The money will be credited to passengers’ bank accounts. Those who had reserved tickets at our counters can get refunds by showing their tickets at our counters,” says B T Prabhakar Reddy, divisional controller, KSRTC.</p>.<p><strong>Huge fleet</strong></p>.<p>With a fleet of 8,744 buses KSRTC transports an average of 30.12 lakh passengers every day. Sixteen southern Karnataka districts are covered by the KSRTC. Amid the clampdown on public travel, it has deployed 70 buses to transport municipal employees, medical staff, and government officials. It has also allowed the use of 13 bus stands as vegetable, grocery, or cocoon markets.</p>
