Mangaluru: City bus owners anxious over corroding buses, technical problems

Mangaluru: More than 150 city buses in the city have not been on the road for the past three months. Bus owners are faced with the threats of corrosion-induced technical problems.

City and private buses were suspended in Mangaluru after the lockdown was announced in March. Presently, about only 130 buses are plying on the routes.

Buses standing still for several days start with tire and battery problems. New batteries cost Rs 17,000. Similarly, heat damages the tire and a new pair of tires cost Rs 40,000. Bus owners have been troubled by all this.

Of the 130 buses presently plying, some of them have become unfeasible due to lack of passengers. Hence, the bus owners association has decided to cut a few buses from certain routes.

Another problem is the ban on travel between Dakshina Kannada district and Kasargod district. Some of the city buses that run in Mangaluru have bus drivers and operators from Mangeshwara and Talpady who are now struggling to get to work.

Photos of some buses have also gone viral on social media because of the plants and vines that have started growing on them. A few of them have even become homes to dogs and birds while some were seen grazing cows being tied to them.

Dilraj Alva, President of Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners Association, says that city bus operations have started from about a month in Mangaluru. No buses are running on profit. For this reason, bus traffic has been stopped on certain routes. Public traffic in the city is also low, thus reducing the number of passengers.