THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For years, Bhaskaran Pillai had been shelling out anywhere between `70 and `120 for public transport utilities such as jeep to reach the nearest town of Venjaramoodu, some 9.5 km from his house nestled in the hilly terrains of Kairali Junction at Poovathur, almost seven times the KSRTC fare. Until last month the regular commuters of his neighbourhood in Vamanapuram panchayat had to depend solely on jeep or autorickshaws, that have a dubious record of fleecing the passengers to reach the towns of Venjaramoodu or Karette.
Today travelling to Venjaramoodu won’t burn a hole in the pockets of commuters as KSRTC has restarted its services after a gap of seven years.Vexed with the extortion by unauthorised operators who dominated the transport scene in the region, residents have gone out of the way to organise popular campaigns to retain the KSRTC chain service on the Venjaramoodu-Vellumannadi-Melattumoozhy-Karette stretch.
People formed Whatsapp groups to keep the momentum going by providing real time bus schedules. They even assembled recently at LP school in Melattukuzhy to take a pledge to use the KSRTC service, distributed notice to create awareness and found sponsors to display the bus timings at every junction. The successful campaign resulted in KSRTC operating 42 trips using four buses between 5.40 am and 8.30 pm.
Vamanapuram MLA D K Murali also chipped in by holding discussions with the KSRTC. The public sector utility was initially apprehensive to restart the service which had to be wound up owing to low returns. But the overwhelming response from people could bring smiles on cash-strapped KSRTC. The collection soared from `5000 to over `10,000. At some point it has peaked at `12,000, said J S Pradeep, inspector of KSRTC and co-ordinator of squads against parallel services.
Cheap, safe travel
KSRTC service assures students and regular office-goers a cheaper and safer travel, said Shiji Poovathur, a ward member of Melattumoozhy and a lead campaigner for the cause. According to her the service has benefited scores of people in Vamanapuram, Nellanadu and Pullanpara panchayats. There are at least six schools in the region. Besides, scores of students study in Sree Narayana College at Chempazhanthy and Kerala University. They can now avail the concession service of KSRTC.
“The students had to pay full amount for travel in jeep. Throwing caution to the wind the operators jampack the students double the capacity of the vehicle,” said S V Deepu, another campaigner. He said it was important for commuters to realise that they won’t be entitled to insurance cover if they travel in unauthorised public transport vehicles.
PAST
KSRTC used to operate two mini bus services in 1997. But the service was gradually withdrawn after unauthorised parallel service operators started eating into its collection. Over the years the 15-kilometre stretch was taken over by around 25 parallel operators using jeeps and autorickshaws.
PRESENT
The successful campaign resulted in KSRTC operating 42 trips using four buses between 5.40 am and
8.30 pm