BENGALURU: Saturday's elections across the state are sure to affect travel plans for many who were looking to go on a quick trip out of the city on the weekend. A large part of the state-owned transport corporation's fleet, in some cases around 50%, have been earmarked for election duties on Friday and Saturday leaving the corporations with little choice but to operate with disruptions on these two days.
The shrinking of the fleet is likely to force many to take their private transport out, in turn causing possible traffic jams at the city's exit points.
Taxi services are also likely to be affected with the Transport Department choosing to take away the original permits of vehicles in some cases to ensure that the drivers show up for election duties on Saturday. The lack of transport options is also most likely to affect those who will have to head home to cast their vote.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), the state's largest bus fleet operator, said that disruptions in its services were most likely on 11 and 12 May. According to officials, around 3900-4000 buses are likely to be deployed for ferrying police, election commission officials and other related duties. The fleet size of KSRTC is 8796.
Other corporations like the NEKRTC, NWKRTC and city based Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) have also been asked to assign part of their fleet for election duties. This is likely to disrupt city based services as well. The BMTC currently has around 6000 buses and there was no confirmation about how many buses would be set aside for election duties.
"We will try to minimize the disruptions by ensuring that all routes have atleast some buses operational. However, it is something that cannot be avoided," a KSRTC official said.