Private buses: Karnataka government yet to act on RTO plea
When most of the KSRTC buses are operating from city outskirts, why can't private buses follow the same.
Bengaluru: Though the city traffic police and the Regional Transport Department (RTO) have been demanding that private buses bound for outstation destinations should not enter the city, the proposal has only remained on paper.
In 2016 government had conducted an experimental drive for 10 days by stopping private bus entering the Central Business District (CBD) and moving their operation to bus terminals on the city outskirts. That was a very good initiative, but was not taken forward, said a traffic police on condition of anonymity. He alleged some transport officials have a vested interest in not implementing this plan.
According to the reports from the RTO, 11 thousand private buses operate in the city.
Preetham C, a regular commuter between Chamarajnagar and Bengaluru said, “When most of the KSRTC buses are operating from city outskirts, why can't private buses follow the same. Bengaluru has BMTC feeder buses and Namma Metro, which can easily provide further connectivity.”
A transport department source said that private buses association has requested the RTO officials to allow them to operate buses from the central area itself as they fear loss of revenue.
A senior KSRTC official said, “Even we are facing the loss by operating buses from the city outskirts. But RTO people are not taking any action against these private owners.”
KSRTC operates 60 buses to other districts from the Peenya-Basaveshwara bus terminal for districts which include Tumakuru, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Bidar.