Bengaluru: Buses to run on Sunday, will skip containment zones

KSRTC and BMTC buses will continue to operate on Sunday following the lifting of the lockdown, though city buses would avoid containment zones.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) said in a communication that the bus services will continue from 7 am to 7 pm on Sunday. The last service will depart from Bengaluru by 7 pm as night curfew restrictions will prevail. Close to 29,000 buses have been operational since passenger services resumed on May 19 and nearly 9,000 people have travelled in the buses, where ridership has been restricted to enforce social distancing.

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Hours later, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) announced that city buses would continue to ply on Sunday.

But an official clarified that buses would stay away from the 25 containment zones until further orders. Both transport companies have been scaling up operations gradually.

The BMTC had deployed 3,000 of its 6,500 buses on weekdays, while it operates a lesser number of vehicles during the weekend.

Though KSRTC began with 1,000 buses, it scaled up the numbers to 3,500 in the past few days.

It is also providing causal contracts to people travelling out of the state. For more information on hiring KSRTC buses, contact: 7760990100, 7760990560.

Rs 100 fine for spitting at bus stations

KSRTC has said spitting in bus stations will attract a fine of Rs 100, even as officials faced the challenge of scaling up services as Covid-19 continues to affect various clusters.

If the offender happens to be an employee, the penalty will be double. “A penalty of Rs 200 will be imposed to the corporation employees in case of violations,” a release said. The corporation will also spread awareness among the public and its employees by displaying ‘no spitting’ stickers.