KSRTC stops women bus service

Mangaluru: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, which started “Women Special Bus“ service from its Mangaluru division considering to provide safety to its women passengers has been stopped.

Around 6 years ago, M Mahesh was the divisional officer of Mangaluru KSRTC and had started the women special bus service between Mangaluru – Kasaragod route. This service was continued for some years since. But last year, the bus service was stopped with the lame excuse of providing the bus for Legislative Assembly election work and since then, the service has not been restarted.

54 seats bus

As per the earlier schedule, the bus used to make two trips which began at 8 am in the morning from Kasaragod and reached Mangaluru at 9:40 am. The evening trip would start at 6:05 pm from Mangaluru and reach Kasaragod at 7:30 pm. The bus also has a woman special bus board attached t o it and had a seating capacity of 54 seats.

In Bengaluru too, BMTC had started a similar service through pink buses, but that service too was stopped after some time.

The bus service was convenient for women

Many students arrive from Kasaragod to Mangaluru to pursue education at schools and colleges here. In that too, during the peak hours, the buses plying between the two cities are jam-packed with commuters and it becomes a real challenge and inconvenience for students and women to travel in such conditions. Hence, for this very reason the public is demanding that the Mangaluru – Kasaragod women bus service be started for convenience of women.

15 years ago, there was a women city bus

Around 15 years ago, there was a women city bus service in Mangaluru. The then governor Ramadevi had flagged off this new bus service. Later, there were women bus service no 27 between Statebank – Mangaladevi, no 44 between Ullal – Statebank and no 21 between Statebank – Neermarga. As the days passed by and with the fall for demand, the bus was divided into two parts with the front portion for women and the rear allocated for men. Even then, since there was no good demand, the service was finally stopped.

Action after discussion

The women KSRTC bus plying between Mangaluru – Kasaragod has been stopped earlier for Legislative Assembly election work, and presently, in order to restart the service, action will be taken after holding discussion with the divisional officer – Jayashant, KSRTC Mangaluru Division Control Officer