Following the recent bus inferno that claimed 45 lives in Palem at Mahabubnagar, there is a significant increase in demand for the State-run services.
Passengers have now begun to prefer buses run by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to the private buses, said a KSRTC official. The passengers think that the private operators, who aim at minting money, compromise on the passengers’ safety and maintenance of buses and fitness of their drivers, he added.
The recent incident, which exposed lack of adequate safety measures in the private buses and how badly they are maintained, has affected psyche of commuters, making them shy away from taking private buses for long-distance travels.
Says Satish Naidu, a native of Vishakapatnam who works in the City, said: “I planned to visit my home town this weekend, and I had thought by Friday I will get the tickets booked for me and my wife with a private bus operator. But after this incident, I was in two minds. Finally, I got my tickets booked yesterday (Tuesday) with the KSRTC online. I cannot think of risking lives of me and my family.”
Shiva, another regular passenger to Hyderabad and employed in an IT company, said: “I will no longer be feeling safe if I am travelling in a private bus. God knows what will happen. I will rather take a State-run bus for my long-distance travel.
But I will not have a problem in taking a private bus if it is convenient to travel within the city limits.”
Channabasappa, chief manager (Marketing and Commuter Relations), KSRTC, said: “For festival season, we had to ply 1,000 additional buses to cater to the rush. Even we are expecting that there will be definitely an impact on passengers due to the incident.
Ultimately, people will realise that the government-run buses are safer and secure. We do not compromise unlike the private operators who load the buses with goods other than the luggage and number of passengers exceeding its capacity.”
The private bus operators do admit the after effects, but they think that it is a temporary phase.
Ultimately, private buses are far more convenient for many passengers who book them at the last minute.
Ramesh Shetty, owner of a fleet of private buses, said that the tragedy has led to a dip in the number of passengers. But this will be temporary phase and the passengers will come back to us.”
Another official said that in the past wherein any incidents have happened and passengers have lost their lives due to fault of the driver, the onus is on the corporation and all possible help, including ex gratia, is provided, whereas in the recent case, nobody has come forward to help the families of the dead.