JNNURM buses to Operate in Udupi from September 7
Udupi: The long awaited KSRTC city buses, under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), will be starting their service from September 7.
As many as 30 KSRTC buses have been sanctioned to Udupi under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and 20 buses have already reached Udupi KSRTC Depot. In 2007, the Union government had sanctioned 30 buses to Udupi district for intra-city public transportation under JNNURM.
The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) issued route permits for 30 low-floor buses under the (JNNURM) for Udupi city. A JNNURM bus stand is planned to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4 crores. Since the construction of a permanent structure would take time, a temporary structure will be erected at the old DDPI office for the JNNURM bus stand.
According to the guidelines, those buses would have to be operated within a 20-km distance (in one way from starting point to end point) every 15 minutes. The route permits were issued for JNNURM buses to operate on 30 routes in the city. These routes include Manipal-Rajatadri-Malpe, Udupi to Tiger Circle, Udupi to Rajatadri, Udupi to Alevoor, Udupi to Kallianpur, Udupi to Kelarkalabettu, Parkala to Udupi, Herga to Udupi, Tiger Circle to Malpe Beach, Hoode to Udupi, Thottam-Badagabettu-Udupi, and Ananthanagar to Malpe Beach.
The process of recruiting drivers and conductors have completed and they are trained at the KSRTC Regional Training Institute at Hassan. All the 30 low-floor buses operated under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) have been fitted with CCTV cameras.
Speaking to Mangalorean.com Regional officer Vivekananda Hegde said that each bus is fitted with three high-resolution CCTV cameras. While the front and rear cameras will capture images inside the bus, the third one is at the back and will help the driver reverse the bus. The cameras can store recordings up to seven days, after which it will be saved on a hard drive. The surveillance will increase the safety of women and those travelling late in the night. It will also instill a sense of discipline among conductors and passengers and prevent altercations between them.
Another safety aspect is that these buses will not move unless the doors are locked. The buses have a panic button for the driver to contact the control room in case of any emergency, as well a buzzer fitted on a stanchion pole for passengers to request that the bus is stopped,” he said.
LCD destination boards in Kannada and English with the route number, route and destination will come in handy for the locals and tourists. Low platform for hassle-free boarding and alighting, rear engine, automatic gear, electronically adjustable floor depending on the condition of the road, comfortable seating, a facility for lowering on the left side (kneeling), ramp for the physically challenged to enter the bus and facility for securing the wheelchair are some of the features.
On September 7 at 12:00 pm at the MGM Ground in the presence of Pramod Madhwaraj district minister in-charge the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) bus service will be launched.
