THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Some 30 years ago, when the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation did not have as many vehicles as of now, its reach into rural areas was low. At that time, many locals began parallel services. Now, the corporation has introduced more services and the Motor Vehicles Department is cracking the whip on such illegal services. However, commuters in rural areas are still left in the lurch, thanks to the sudden cancellation of KSRTC buses and the long gap between services.
In many rural areas, commuters are having a harrowing time with the inconsistency of KSRTC services. Earlier, they could rely on the numerous parallel services. Now, with the authorities cracking the whip, rural commuters like Usha, a native of Pozhiyoor who works as a teacher in a private school in Neyyattinkara, have no option but to depend on the limited services of KSRTC.
“When the checking got even stricter in the last few months, the parallel bus service staff went on to boycott the elections. Now, many of these vehicles are being hired for private trips and some of the staff have taken up other jobs. This spells trouble for short-distance commuters in rural areas. It is high time the Transport Department did some introspection. In their run to make a profit, they are forgetting that commuters shouldn’t have to wait for one to two hours for KSRTC buses. The recent actions are affecting the sector as a whole,” said K K Shibu of the Kerala State Bus Transport Workers Federation.
None of the vehicles engaged in parallel services has a permit to do so. On the other hand, there is a provision which allows six-wheel vehicles to operate as stage carriers in the state. But, the KSRTC has exclusive permits in three regions in the district - Neyyattinkara, Nedumangad and Thiruvananthapuram.
However, KSRTC workers believe the corporation can iron out the issues.
“We are soon going to have more services and gradually the issues will be sorted out. However, the parallel services are exploiting the KSRTC. With more services, every region will have buses every 15 minutes. There are more than 1,000 parallel services in the district. It is a fact we have repeated often that they cause us a loss of `40 lakh a day. The flaws in the KSRTC services will be sorted out now,” said Pradeep Sreedhar, president, Kerala State Transport Employees Union.