Fleet freeze deprives villages of Karnataka govt buses

With hardly any buses procured over the last three years and with more than 40% of the existing fleet crossing the scrapping threshold, the three regional transport corporations (RTCs) of Karnataka are struggling to serve rural areas.

As of February 2022, nearly 2,693 revenue villages in Karnataka were devoid of government bus connectivity.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which caters to 17 districts, has the highest number of villages (2,594) with no government bus facility. Of these villages, 1,322 have private bus services while 306 do not have any bus connectivity as they lack motorable roads. The remaining 966 villages are off the road grid for various reasons.

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North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) which caters to six districts of Kittur Karnataka region, has the least number of villages (49) with no bus service, while 50 villages under Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) have no bus connectivity. Most of these villages lack proper roads.

The three corporations have no data on human settlements like tandas and hamlets that lack bus connectivity.

KSRTC managing director V Anbukkumar told DH that operating buses to these villages is difficult even in the near future as they have not received any additional buses in last three years. "Due to Covid and other reasons, we could not purchase new buses," he said and added that KSRTC alone requires nearly 1,000 new buses every year to serve unconnected villages.

Anbukkumar said the life of each KSRTC bus, on average, 8.6 lakh km. A majority of the premium buses live Airvatha and Rajahamsa have crossed 15 lakh km. "Yet, we are running them without compromising on our service motto," he said.

KKRTC Chief Mechanical Engineer Gajendra Kumar said, "With regular maintenance and replacement of parts, we are able operate old buses for nearly 15 lakh km."

"Buses alone will not solve the connectivity issue. We need additional human resources, and since 2017-18, KSRTC has not recruited new drivers and conductors," Anbukumar said.