Soon, 30% KSRTC buses to have driver-cum-conductors

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Thiruvananthapuram: Faced with a prolonged financial crunch, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is cutting corners to reduce expenditure on various heads. As part of this move, the public transport entity will implement the driver-cum-conductor system soon.

Thirty per cent of the KSRTC buses will conduct services without conductors as part of the plan. Services connecting main depots in districts and long-distance services will be selected for this. Those services in which the majority of the passengers are heading towards the same destination too would be included in this system.

For weekend services, especially on the Thiruvananthapuram- Ernakulam route, most passengers reserve their tickets for to-and-fro journeys. These would be converted to non-stop services. The driver himself would check the reservation and issue the tickets. The bus would stop at only the main depots.

The experts at the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Ltd are selecting routes where services without conductors can be operated.

More buses are being included in this system as the trial run of the Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam weekend service without conductors has been a success since its launch three weeks ago.

A total of 750 employees are retiring from the KSRTC this month, while 400 are being given promotions. With this, the number of conductors will reduce. To address this shortage some driver would be given training and transferred to the driver-cum-conductor post.

Also, the authorities are looking into the possibility of making appointments to 700-odd driver-cum-conductor posts. Better perks would also be given for such recruits.

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