Mangaluru : The Kasargod district administration has decided to restart KSRTC (Kerala) bus services between Kasargod and Mangaluru from September 21.

With this, the demands of the people of both the districts will be fulfilled.

With the rise in Covid cases in Kasargod, the district administration had blocked all the border areas. Accordingly, bus services had remained suspended for nearly six months.

Though Kerala has decided on running the buses, Karnataka has not yet announced about the same. As there are a few more days for the commencement of bus services by Kerala, Karnataka is likely to announce on the movement of buses shortly, said sources.

KSRTC Mangaluru Divisional Controller Arun S N said that the permission is yet to be received to run bus services from Mangaluru to Kasargod. Higher officials, at a meeting on Monday, are likely to decide on the same.

Kerala has decided to allow 40 passengers to travel on a bus at a time. Depending on the demands of the passengers, buses will be operated.

The passengers have to book the seat before commencing their travel. In the first phase, Kerala SRTC will operate buses on Kasargod-Mangaluru, Kasargod-Panjikallu route. The Kerala government is yet to release the guidelines for bus travel.

Mangaluru-Kasargod KSRTC is a profitable route for both the road corporations. The corporation had not incurred any loss before the lockdown, according to officials.

In the past, 40 buses were operated daily from Mangaluru to Kasargod. Similarly, the same number of buses were operated from Kasargod to Mangaluru.

On average, at least 15,000 passengers used to travel between these two districts daily.