Commuters in Karnataka who plan to avail the services of KSRTC may have to reschedule on May 11 and May 12, as a chunk of the fleet has been assigned for election duty. The state will vote for its next Assembly on May 12.
“Buses will be operating for the daily passengers, but there might be a slight disruption in transport on the day of election,” says S Rajesh, the Deputy Chief Traffic Manager (commercial) for KSRTC.
Around 3800-3900 KSRTC buses will be deployed to transport police officers, election officials and other election-related necessities, he added. The KSRTC operates a fleet of 8,796, and connects 17 districts and has inter-state services in the state as well.
Apart from the KSRTC fleet, 1,500 BMTC buses have also been deputed for elections.
Speaking to TNM, BMTC’s Chief Traffic Manager (commercial), Hegade I V said that since the election falls on a Saturday, there will be a slump in the number of commuters, and hence, will not have a large impact.
“1500 BMTC buses are allotted for election purpose but there are around 4000 buses in the fleet for the daily commuters”, Hegade said.
“The buses will be deployed two days before the elections to transport men and material to polling booths. After the election, they will drop back the personnel and shift the EVMs to counting centres. For now they have asked for two days - a day before the election and on election day, if they want for more day they will have to submit a request letter again,” a senior KSRTC official told Deccan Chronicle.
Even corporations like North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation have been asked to earmark buses for election duty, according to the New Indian Express.
“We will try to minimize the disruptions by ensuring that all routes have at least some buses operational. However, it is something that cannot be avoided,” a KSRTC official told TNIE.