Bengaluru: As heavy rains are lashing different parts of the state, passengers travelling from Mangaluru to Bengaluru on KSRTC and private buses had to cancel their trips for the last three days as all bus services had been suspended. But on Thursday, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) managed to find a new route to operate its buses and ran an empty bus with three police escort vehicles from Mangaluru to Bengaluru.
KSRTC had stopped running its services from Bengaluru to Mangaluru, Kukke Subramanya, Dharmasthala and Kundapura as heavy rains are lashing these areas, leading to landslides. KSRTC buses, including high-end Volvos, remained off the road in Mangaluru for the past three days as landslides and fallen trees at Doddathople near Maranahalli and Udane near Shiradi had blocked the National Highway 75.
“Many people had requested us to resume the services to Bengaluru. We tried a new route to operate our Volvos from Mangaluru to Bengaluru on Thursday through SK border, Karkala, Kudremukh, Kalasa, Kottigehara, Mudigere, Hassan and Bengaluru and it was successful,” a senior KSRTC official told Deccan Chronicle.
“The old route via Shiradi Ghat took about 9 hours, while our bus through the new route took around 11 hours because of the longer distance and smaller roads. We are planning to operate five buses this weekend, but we cannot operate night services as we don’t get phone connectivity between SK border and Karkala. This is crucial as we can rush help if there is any emergency,” the official said.
