Udupi : Residents sought Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses to their places at the meeting of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), chaired by Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Fancis, here on Tuesday.

Sanjeeva Shetty, president, Nagarika Samiti, demanded to know why the RTA meeting was not held for the last seven months. Regional Transport Officer Gurumurthy Kulkarni said that there were various reasons for not holding the meeting. Henceforth, efforts would be made to hold them regularly.

The RTA had revised the fares of private buses during this period, he said. Mr. Shetty said that fares had been increased without consulting the consumers and voluntary organisations. Some buses were charging the revised rates, while others were not, leading to confusion and fights, he said. He demanded government buses on the Udupi-Karkala route. Another resident said that the buses on the Udupi-Karkala route should be asked to stop at Vasuki Nagar as there were about 50 houses there. Mr. Kulkarni agreed to consider the demand.

Ramesh Rao, a resident from Ambagilu, said that about 10 years ago, many private buses were using Ambagilu-Tangadagadi route to enter Udupi. Later, they stopped using this route because road widening work was being taken up. The widening work had since been completed. Hence private and KSRTC city buses should be operated on this route, he said.

A demand was also made for KSRTC city buses on Malpe – Pavanje – Tenkanidiyur route. K. Suresh Nayak, president, Private City Bus Operators Association, said that KSRTC city buses were not following the time table given by the RTA. This had resulted in unfair competition. Though this matter had been brought to the notice of the RTO, no action was taken, he said.

The timings given to the private buses were such that they had to follow KSRTC buses within a short time on the Udupi-Karkala route and this had resulted in lesser passengers for the former. The RTA should ensure that there was substantial gap in timings else the private bus services on the route would be hard hit, said the President of Chikkamagaluru District Bus Operators Association.