Mangakluru: A demand for KSRTC bus service to Polali and Panambur was made at a meeting of the Dakshina Kannada Regional Transport Authority (RTA) here on Thursday. Social organisations sought operation of extra buses on the busy city routes during peak hours.

Welcoming the decision of the RTA to grant permits to the KSRTC to operate buses on 17 routes, Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti president G. Hanumanth Kamath said that he was glad that these buses were operating to areas that have minimal public transport facility.

He said that some modifications have to be made to these routes to cover areas such as Valachil that has two colleges. “Except for buses of the institutions, there are no public transport vehicles reaching these institutions,” he said.

Democratic Youth Federation of India Dakshina Kannada unit’s general secretary B.K. Imtiyaz said that more number of KSRTC buses should be operated on some city routes during peak hours to avoid overcrowding of buses. He said that some modifications should be made to existing routes to allow buses to Panambur. Nooyi Balakrishna Rao sought a bus to Polali.

Representatives of private bus owners opposed operation of bus services on some routes and said this would lead to traffic jam on such narrow roads.

When a representative of the bus owners association pointed to the problem that KSRTC buses may cause on the State Bank of India-Akashbhavan route, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, who heads the RTA, shot it down saying, “When eight buses can operate on the route why not allow this ninth bus.”

Some transport operators said that they will suffer losses if more KSRTC buses are deployed in the city.