Bringing fresh hopes to bus passengers of Ernakulam’s heritage spot, Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed has inaugurated two new services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation to Fort Kochi.
The services, which begins from Fort Kochi, will serve as the city’s first stay buses as they will stay at the bus station during night hours and commence services the following day. The buses include Fort Kochi to Aluva and Fort Kochi to Kakkanad.
On the plans to convert Fort Kochi as a hub of KSRTC buses in the future, Aryadan Mohammed said that discussions would be held in this regard.
“KSRTC is facing a huge paucity of buses at the moment. Finding buses to begin services here will be a difficult task. However, there will soon be more KSRTC buses from Fort Kochi, keeping in mind the huge demand for the buses in the area,” he said.
There are also demands to start long-distance state and interstate buses from here. Apart from the new services, the Cherthala-Fort Kochi bus which berths at Thoppumpady will also be shifted as a stay service to the Fort Kochi stand.
The Transport Minister also inaugurated two new rooms provided for the KSRTC staff at the Corporation office in Fort Kochi.
Speaking on the need to start more services from here, Dominic Presentation MLA has urged the minister to begin online booking services at Fort Kochi.
He also requested Aryadan Mohammed to start long-distance buses to tourist places such as Munnar and Thekkady. “Fort Kochi is the second opted tourist destination for tourists in Kerala. However, the lack of proper transportation is a dampner for these tourists.”
Corporation Mayor Tony Chammany, Deputy Mayor B Bhadra, councillors, Ernakulam KSRTC ATO Venugopal and Zonal Officer Sebastian Thomas were present.