Bengaluru: With the auspicious Onam festival around the corner, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has announced 32 special services from Bengaluru to various destinations in Kerala.
The measure comes as a big relief to thousands of Keralites working in the Garden City as ticket prices have soared sky-high due to the heavy festival rush.
22 of the special services will be operated on August 25, when the holiday rush is expected to be at its peak.
The special services to destinations such as Alappuzha, Munnar, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, and Kannur were announced after the usual services from August 23 to 27 were fully booked up. A special service will also be run in the Mysore-Ernakulam section.
Private stage carriers have hiked ticket prices by up to three times to take advantage of the heavy festival rush. The Karnataka RTC will charge up to 30 per cent extra charges based on demand. The Kerala RTC earlier announced 20 special services on August 25, for which the bookings have already started.
Two special services to Alappuzha
Even as the Kerala RTC didn’t announce a single service to Alappuzha from Bengaluru, the Karnataka RTC is operating two special services in the section. The AC Multi Axle special services were allotted following parleys held by AICC (All India Congress Committee) General Secretary K C Venugopal with Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
The buses which depart from Shanti Nagar at 8.14 pm and 8.31 pm on August 25 will reach Alappuzha by 7 in the next morning. This is besides the usual daily service to Alappuzha. Though the Kerala RTC earlier operated Scania Service to Alappuzha from Bengaluru, the same has been extended till Thiruvananthapuram.
IndiGo’s second Kozhikode service from September 1
Meanwhile, the Budget airline IndiGo will resume operation of its second flight in the Bengaluru-Kozhikode route from September 1 onwards. The flight will depart from Bengaluru at 5.45 am to reach Kozhikode by 6.50 am. In the return direction, the flight will leave Kozhikode at 7.30 pm to reach Bengaluru by 8.50 pm. The airline is already operating one service in the sector in the evening. It departs from Bengaluru at 6.45 pm to reach Kozhikode by 8 pm. In the return direction, the flight will depart at 9 pm to reach its destination by 10 pm.
Stop allowed for the train at Parappanangadi
The Yasvantpur-Kannur Express will have a one-minute halt at the Parappanangadi from August 15 onwards. The Yasvantpur-Kannur Express (T No 16527) and Kannur-Yasvantpur Express (T No 16528) will stop at 7.09 am and 7.52 pm respectively.
Kanniyakumari Express to be delayed
The Kanniyakumari-KSR Bengaluru Express (T No 16525) will have a delayed start of one hour on August 19 and two hours on August 26 to facilitate KSR yard renovation works.