KOCHI: The demands for connectivity to interior areas and the narrow roads in the hinterlands have prompted the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) to contemplate issuing permits to private buses, especially minibuses, in new routes in Tripunithura region.
This comes in the wake of the huge response to a ‘Janakeeya Sadas’ held by the department as per the directives of Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar at Tripunithura on Tuesday. The same was attended by K Babu MLA, Municipal Chairpersons of Tripunithura and Maradu, the Udayamperoor Panchayat President, officials of KSRTC, Police, PWD, NHAI, private bus owners and residents’ associations.
“Basically, we’re considering the issuance of permits in routes where there is no bus service and the ones where permits have been cancelled. The decision from the higher-ups is to allot permits to minibuses as well, given the narrow road stretches in the region. We’ve received 45 representations in all, having numerous proposals, from private bus owners and other stakeholders,” said Tripunithura Joint RTO Abdul Rahman.
“We’ll codify all the proposals and consider the feasibility of the same before forwarding them to the Ernakulam RTO. The latter will forward them to the transport department, which will again conduct a feasibility study on factors like beneficiaries, type of buses, viability, etc. Finally, an auction will be held for the finalised routes,” the official added.
There were many proposals for new routes such as Poothotta-Ameda; Tripunithura Railway Station- Town Bus Stand; Thoppumpady-Kannangad bridge-Kakkanad Civil Station; and Tripunithura-Nettoor (via NH 966 (B) parallel bridge), among others.
“Permits should be allotted to minibuses in narrow routes where conventional buses cannot be operated. Similarly, several permits in routes such as Udayamperoor-Poothotta were cancelled. The same should be reissued, diverting such services to benefit people in the interior areas. The bus services to destinations like Kumbalam and Cheppanam should be restored,” said Tripunithura MLA K Babu.
The residents’ associations batted for introducing ‘share auto’ services, linking the main bus stops in the town with interior destinations having no public transport connectivity. “Introducing share auto services to areas such as Mekkara, Pavamkulangara, Valiyathura, Manjelipadam, etc. will benefit a large section of residents,” said V P Prasad, Chairman, TRURA (Tripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents’ Association), an apex council of nearly 140 residents’ associations.
Meanwhile, many stake players expressed concerns over the scope of starting many new services, given that the main routes such as Vaikom-Ernakulam are nationalised ones. However, MVD officials pointed out that there are exemptions.
“For instance, a private bus can operate on 5 percent of the total stretch of a nationalised route. It can then take a detour and connect the interior areas. Similarly, the rule that buses can pass through two immediate intermediate points can be bypassed by exploring alternative or parallel routes,” said Naufal A, MVI.
auction for Routes
All the proposals will be codified and feasibility will be considered before forwarding them to the Ernakulam RTO
The RTO will forward these proposals to the transport department, which will again conduct a feasibility study on factors like beneficiaries, type of buses
Later, an auction will be held for the finalised routes