Kochi: Helmed by Thrikkakara legislator P.T. Thomas, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has tied up with the Infopark to develop accessible transportation facilities for techies. The Transport Forum was set up at a meeting organised by the Infopark Library that he chaired on Friday. “He gave directions to the KSRTC to start new services and ensure that the current lot sticks to its schedule," said Regi K. Thomas, deputy director (administration). Infopark CEO Hrishikesh Nair, KSRTC zonal officer S. K. Suresh Kumar and KURTC special officer Rajendran attended the meet besides over 100 representatives from various IT companies.
It was decided to start new Volvo low-floor AC bus services to Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode from Infopark at 5.45 pm, 6 pm and 6.15 pm every Friday and the return trips on Mondays starting from September 29. A weekend service to Palakkad started two months back on a pilot basis was found to be successful. It was also decided to start new services to destinations such as Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Aluva and Thodupuzha and also to extend those services currently terminating at Kakkanad to Infopark.
“Many complain the auto and taxi drivers exploit them charging a minimum '40 to travel even to Kakkanad from the Infopark campus, hardly three km away," said Dipin Varghese, a techie. “The KSRTC officials agreed to operate Kakkanad-Infopark services during the morning (8 am to 10 am) and evening peak hours (5 pm to 8 pm) at an interval of 20 minutes.” The meet also agreed to allow space to set up a station master's office on the campus besides a complaint box. “We’ll hold a review meeting every month to assess the situation and to take additional measures,” a KURTC officer said.
