Bus services cash in on Konkan landslip

TNN
Bellevision Media Network

MANGALORE, 05 August 2010: It has been a windfall week for the beleaguered bus industry this week. Courtesy, the landslip on the Konkan Railway tracks between Ratnagiri -Adavali sections which disrupted train services.

 

The buses which were travelling to Mumbai with just 60-70% occupancy have been going packed. While the off season has turned peak season for the road transport services, for the airlines the disruption did not make any difference. They are still in off-season mode and are operating between 75-85% occupancy levels.

 

KSRTC which operates one Volvo service to Mumbai daily at 2 pm, started operating two extra buses from Tuesday in view of the extra rush. ’’Till the landslip happened, we were operating at 60% occupancy. In the past 10 days our buses have been going full. In fact, on Tuesday the second bus also was packed to capacity," said traffic inspector Bhaskar Thokkottu.

 

 

He said in view of the Konkan Railway being operational from Wednesday, they may have to review the position on the extra buses. ’’We will take a decision based on demand," said another KSRTC staff.

 

Prakash, a private bus agent, admitted that the buses were going full in this off season, but there was no mad rush. The buses in the lean season charge Rs 1,000, which is equivalent of the trains three tier a/c fare. The sleeper class fare is Rs 387. Prakash said due to this huge difference, only passengers who had no other option used the services of private bus services. During off season, less than 10 buses operate to Mumbai. It goes up to 30 during peak season in May.

 

Airline operators said that there had been no perceivable difference in their occupancy rates and they remained as it was last season, at 75-85%.