The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) together suffered a loss of Rs 18 crore at the end of the two-day strike by their employee unions.
The KSRTC suffered a total loss of more than Rs 10 crore. N Manjunath Prasad, Managing Director, KSRTC, told Express that as many as 25 police cases were registered across the state during the strike.
Also, 129 employees were involved in the protests in which as many as 242 buses suffered damages, he added. The bookings for KSRTC buses are, however, yet to pick up after the two-day hiatus, said a transport official.
“After the strike, the bookings on our buses have still not picked up. We also plan to arrange special buses on account of Ganesh Chathurthi,” the official added.
Speaking about the refund of the ticket charges booked on cancelled trips during the strike, the official said that the process is in progress.
Meanwhile, the BMTC incurred a loss of 8 crore in the two-day strike.
Sixty buses were damaged across the city during the protest and three employees, including a conductor and two drivers were injured, said C Nagaraj, Director of Operations, BMTC.
“The worst hit zones were those housing IT companies like ITPL because most buses operate on these routes,” he added.
Special Buses for Festival
On account of the Gowri- Ganesha festival, the KSRTC will operate 1,300 extra buses in addition to the existing schedules till September 18.
Special buses will be exclusively operated from the Kempegowda Bus Station to Dharmastala, Kukkesubramanya, Shimoga, Hassan, Mangalore, Sringeri, Horanadu, Davangere, Hubli, Dharwar, Belgaum, Bijapur, Gokarna, Sirsi, Karwar, Raichur, Gulbarga, Bellary, Koppal, Yadgir, Bidar, Thirupathi and other places.
From the Mysore Road Satellite Bus Station, a number of buses will be exclusively operated on Mysore and Mercara routes.