Kochi: After a delay of over a year, the Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC) finally started operations from the Thevara bus depot on Tuesday. A total of 50 AC and 110 low-floor buses, so far operated from the Ernakulam depot, are being shifted to the new terminal in a phased manner.
“The low-floor AC buses have started operation out of the Thevara depot with the first bus plying to Nedumbassery airport at 5 am. Now most of the schedules would skip the Ernakulam depot so as to decongest it. However, services to Muvattupuzha and Perumbavoor would continue to touch Ernakulam,” a senior official in charge of the operations said.
A solution to the night commuting woes currently faced by the city too is in the offing with the KURTC planning to start AC low-floor night services on select routes like airport-railway station with the functioning of the Thevara Hub depot.
“Once the depot becomes fully functional, we plan to conduct the night service initially on the airport-South railway station route,” KURTC managing director Antony Chacko told DC.
Thevara Depot boasts of office complexes and bus garages. “A dedicated team of mechanical staff too was shifted. We’ll reschedule the services soon so as to benefit maximum commuters,” the official said. The KSRTC also plans to shift the Thiru-Kochi services too to Thevara at a later stage. The KSRTC originally set November 1, 2014, as deadline for starting operations from Thevara depot. Though the depot was finally inaugurated in April bus operations began only on Tuesday.
