KSRTC switches to eco-friendly ticket rolls

The KSRTC will do away with the plastic pipe holding the small rolls of paper in the electronic ticketing machines (ETM) as the corporation switches to environment-friendly technology.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and its sister corporations use about 1.5 crore of ETM rolls per year to print the tickets.

The corporation procures the paper which is then cut into smaller rolls in the Karnataka State Transport Press. Established in 1952, the press has been supplying various materials to the corporations.

On Monday, KSRTC installed two new slitting machines that cut the jumbo reels into small rolls used by the bus conductors in the hand-held ETMs.

Earlier, the paper was rolled around plastic pipes each of which cost about 50 paise. The corporation said that the switch to environment-friendly technology will save about Rs.75 lakhs per year to the corporation.

The machines can produce 16,000 rolls per day and the KSRTC press can earn up to Rs 4.80 crore annually.

KSRTC Chairman M Chandrappa, who inaugurated the machines, said two more such machines will be installed in the coming days. The press can they supply the rolls to BMTC, NEKRTC, and NWKRTC as well.