If everything goes as planned by the Mysuru City Division of KSRTC, full-fledged operations of city buses, connecting the localities that have come up beyond a 5 km radius of the 42-km long outer ring road (ORR).
This is perhaps for the first time that full-fledged services are being planned connecting ORR and some of the localities beyond it on demand from the commuters and the elected representatives.
In the past, KSRTC had made an attempt to operate buses but it did not last long and the services had been abruptly halted.
This time, the city division is preparing the ORR schedules so that the operations are continued and not halted for any reasons since the KSRTC has planned to give connectivity to ORR and its adjoining areas, running buses on the ORR and also inside the areas. Though initially the buses would run on specific routes connecting the ring road, other stretches of the ORR would be covered on seeing the response from the passengers, the authorities said.
Divisional Controller (Mysuru city division) Veeresh H.T. said 16 routes had been finalised and 16 buses would run exclusively on the routes from the city bus stand with a gap of one hour between each trip. โWe are preparing to launch the operations from August 15 onwards. In this regard, preparations are on, identifying bus stops along the proposed routes. Once finalised, a formal announcement would be made giving details of the schedules and operations from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily,โ he said.
Mr. Veeresh said the people from Hinkal have not direct buses to Bogadi though it is about three to four km from the ORR junction at the flyover. For this, the commuters have to travel to the city bus stand and then catch a bus to Bogadi. โInstead, we are giving connectivity to Bogadi via the ORR, to facilitate their faster journey and saving their time as well.โ
He said not the entire ORR stretch was not being covered now since the operations have to be planned and run without any interruptions. โSince it is for the first time we are operating on ORR, we want to make sure everything goes well and therefore only key locations have been incorporated in the schedule,โ he explained.
The newly-inducted blue and white colour combination bodied buses will run on the ORR, he said and added that they are hoping that the initiative is expected to work and benefit the commuters living beyond the ring road.
The ORR junctions that are proposed to be covered in the operations include Hinkal ORR junction, Bogadi ORR junction, Dattagalli ORR junction, Srirampura ORR junction, Metagalli Junction, Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway ORR Junction near Manipal Hospital, Bannur Road ORR Junction, Deve Gowda petrol bunk area, Sathagalli, and Nanjangud Road ORR junction. At each junction, the buses will travel inside the areas for over 1 to 2 km (initially) and ferry passengers to the city bus stand.
