Demand to augment comfortable public transport buses along NH 66 to reduce dependance on private vehicles

With the four/six-laning of the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod NH 66 expected to be completed in approximately a year’s time, demand is rife to augment public transport bus connectivity in the corridor to lessen the number of private vehicles on the stretch.

On traffic snarls and accidents, a bulk of which occur on NH corridors, a senior Motor Vehicles department (MVD) official expressed concern over the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) not being able to rise to the occasion, despite the steep decline in the number of private buses in Kerala from 35,000 a decade ago to fewer than 10,000 at present. The KSRTC must purchase spacious, high-quality buses, while the State government must usher in competition on long-distance routes by permitting high-quality private buses to operate alongside its services, he added.

Expressing concern over the alarming decline in the number of private buses and the loss-making KSRTC struggling to maintain its existing fleet, Ebenser Chullikkat, a public transport enthusiast who once operated ferries on the Ernakulam–Varapuzha route, said this had left the State with just 0.50 buses per 1,000 people, compared with the national average of 1.33 buses.