The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will consider starting more bus services to areas in the northern districts with less coverage at present, Transport Minister C.P. John told the Assembly on Thursday.
He was responding to a calling attention motion moved by Congress MLA V.T. Balram on the necessity to start more KSRTC depots and to operate more services in the northern districts.
Mr. John said that in the context of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s plan to provide free bus travel for all women on KSRTC buses, it is important that people from all regions receive its benefit.
“The MLA from Manjeswaram told me that there is not a single service of the KSRTC in the entire Manjeswaram taluk. We will have to start new services in such places, without which people in these regions will not even know that the government is providing such benefits to women,” said Mr. John.
The Minister said that out of a total of 5,765 buses of the KSRTC, only 1,406 buses are based in depots in the seven districts of the Malabar region. Only around 33% of all the inter-district services cover these districts, he said. Later, he added a caveat that the number of services will be increased as the “health” of the KSRTC improves.
Mr. Balram said that out of the 28 depots of the KSRTC, the seven districts from Palakkad to Kasaragod have only 5 depots, while the number of sub-depots is 8 out of 41. The imbalance in the number of services and depots needs to be addressed, he said.
Published - June 04, 2026 01:56 pm IST
Source: The Hindu - India News
