KOCHI: The people of West Kochi region, already reeling under severe transportation woes, have got another body blow with the KSRTC rescheduling a few services citing revenue loss.
KSRTC authorities said, around 21 schedules to the West Kochi region were either rescheduled or stopped. With the shortage of buses, the most affected are the residents of Thoppumpady, Palluruthi and Edakochi areas who depend on bus services for their day-to-day affairs. The remaining buses on these routes have been witnessing heavy rush during peak hours.
“The Thiru-Kochi KSRTC buses end their services at Thevara during evenings, citing rescheduling. Also, the private buses do not operate services to Edakochi and Palluruthi during peak hours and stop their services mid-way at Thevara,” said Bindu, a resident of Pambayimoola, an employee of a textile shop in the city. Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations Apex Council (EDRAAC) zonal president V K Manoharan said the demands for resolving the transportation woes of West Kochi residents have been falling on deaf ears. “We had submitted a memorandum to the Transport Minister in this regard.
This apart, we had conducted several agitations demanding more KSRTC bus services to West Kochi, where a majority of people depend on the public transport system for their daily affairs, but to no effect,” he said. According to the West Kochi residents, the authorities often ignore the western region of the city while implementing infrastructure projects. “Development activities have always been focused on the eastern or northern region of the city, while the people of West region continue to suffer owing to lack of basic infrastructure facilities,” Manoharan said.
Earlier, the KSRTC buses to the Alappuzha side used to conduct services via Thoppumpady. But the route was changed a few years ago for facilitating the entry of buses into the Vyttila Mobility Hub.Kerala State Janamitram Janakeeya Neethi Vedi coordinator Hariharan Kadavathu alleged the cutting of schedules has added to the woes of commuters from the densely-populated West Kochi region. “The cutting of KSRTC schedules was only intended at helping private bus owners,” he said. The shortage of buses, including private services, has severely affected the women commuters employed in the city, he said.
Hariharan has filed a memorandum before the Transport Commissioner demanding to resolve the transportation woes of West Kochi region. “We will approach the High Court if the issue is not resolved,” he said, adding the KSRTC should commence services to these areas exclusively as it would draw a good revenue for the corporation.KSRTC DTO R Sreekumar admitted the corporation had rescheduled a few trips considering revenue loss. “However, the profitable services have been retained,” he said. “The corporation has no plan to commence new services to West Kochi. The Thiru-Kochi buses are conducting services to Thoppumpady,” he said.