The Hindu - Karnataka 19.08.2009
KSRTC to open two more depots
Raviprasad Kamila
| Mangalore division is planning to start operating 37 routes in the city |
— Photo: R. Eswarraj 
NEW FACILITY: Construction of a KSRTC depot at Kunitkana in Mangalore is under way.
MANGALORE: Mangalore Division of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will have two more depots shortly, one in the city, and another at B.C. Road. These depots will serve as “backbone” of the KSRTC for operating its proposed city buses here. Now it has two depots in the city handling 310 schedules (buses) a day, according to sources.
Sources in the KSRTC told The Hindu that when its two new depots were commissioned, the division could make necessary changes to distribute its schedules, including the proposed city bus schedules, among the four depots. In addition, it could introduce new routes in rural areas and other destinations, they said.
However, the KSRTC is awaiting the approval of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) of Dakshina Kannada to operate 37 city bus schedules.
Officials in the division said they were confident of operating city buses after a month of obtaining the permission from the RTA.
Sources said that a new depot at B.C. Road, which is at 30 km distance from the city, would be ready by next month-end.
It would be commissioned in October. The depot, spread on a four-acre plot, could handle 150 buses or schedules a day. The division was contemplating on operating 60 schedules from the B.C. Road depot, initially.
The KSRTC was building another depot near Kuntikana here on a 3.5-acre land. This depot would be commissioned either in the last week of November or first week of December. It could handle 100 schedules (buses) a day, sources said.
A senior official in the division said that there was no need to call fresh applications to recruit drivers or conductors for operating city buses. A list of eligible candidates for those posts was ready with the division. The list had been prepared based on applications it had received earlier. Hence there was no need to obtain fresh approval from the State Finance Department to recruit personnel for the required posts, they said.
The official said that the KSRTC would have no problem in getting fleet for city bus service.
Bus stand
Sources said that the division would construct a new bus stand at B.C. Road. The Government had allotted the required land for a depot at Sullia. It had plans to construct a depot at Kukke Subrahmanya, they said.
Volvo buses
The division was planning to introduce new Volvo buses (routes) to Puttaparti, Mantralaya, and Hyderabad, sources said.