This year, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation will begin the special Pampa bus services 15 days before the start of the pilgrim season, which begins on November 14. Some 250 buses have been reserved for the purpose.
A meet has been scheduled for October 24 to be chaired by chief minister Oommen Chandy to discuss the preparations. The aim is to facilitate transportation of employees, shopkeepers, police personnel and the like so that the preparatory works won’t suffer.
“This season we are planning to run 500 buses out of which 200-250 buses will start operations by November 1. Each depot was asked to allot 10 to 15 more buses than last time. A notification in this regard will be issued soon. We are doing this based on the experience of last year when so many enquiries for bus services came just before the start of the season,” said a senior official of KSRTC.
Last season, KSRTC had run 356 buses to various parts of the state and a few inter-state destinations too.
Pilgrims can make reservations in advance. From centres such as Ernakulam, two services will run daily. “A group of 40 pilgrims can book an entire bus and they can board anywhere within the 15 km radius of the depot,” the official said.
Source: Deccan Chronicle