The Kerala Road Transport Corporation (Kerala RTC) has made a comeback to one of India’s largest IT campuses, Technopark, located in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram. This comes after the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) cancelled the services of a private bus operator which used to function from the IT park.
Two A/C low floor buses of the Kerala RTC which began functioning from Technopark on May 10 will operate till Mundakayam in Kottayam district and Thodupuzha in Idukki district. The arrival of the Kerala RTC buses comes as a relief to the employees of Technopark who commute daily from their workplace to their homes located outside the city.
According to MG Rahul, the General Secretary of the Kerala State Transport Employees Union, the Kerala RTC used to function from Technopark earlier but ran into a loss with the arrival of the private bus operators, which used to travel long distances and operate illegally. This is said to have eaten into the revenue of the state transport buses, because of which they had to stop their services from Technopark.
Kyros of Kondody Motors, was the bus which used to operate services from Technopark to Muvattupuzha and Thodupuzha before. This route is convenient to many of the commuters because it used to pass through various places such as Thiruvalla, Chengannur, Chengannassery, Kottayam, and people could get down where they wanted. “That is the problem. According to the law, apart from Kerala RTC, no other transport operator in Kerala has the right to pick and drop commuters at various places between the starting point and destination. These private buses used to do that,” says Rahul.
The MVD has gone on the offensive against private bus operators in the state for flouting rules, following the incident where the staff of a private bus brutally beat up three persons in April this year. After it came to the notice of the MVD that Kyros, which is operating from Technopark was also flouting rules, the MVD cancelled their services and took them off the online reservation website, RedBus.
“Naturally, it is the duty of the Kerala RTC to ensure that the regular commuters do not face any sort of inconvenience because of the cancellation of private bus services. So from the very next day following the cancellation of the private bus operator, Kerala RTC began their services from Technopark,” added Rahul.
The brutal attack on three people by the staff of Kallada Bus Travels in April had opened a can of worms, revealing the dark underbelly of the private bus lobby in Kerala which frequently flouts rules. In response, the MVD had launched “Operation Night Riders” in the state to keep a track on private buses that operate to and from Kerala, as well as to monitor the functioning of various ticket-booking agencies of these buses.