The pandemic has led to travel from Mangalore to Kerala being more expensive than it actually was, especially in the Kerala part of the journey. Due to the danger of the spread of Covid-19, Kerala had restricted buses from Karnataka into their territory. Last week, Kerala had allowed buses to be plied from Karnataka to towns near the border. However, a raise in bus fare by 20 percent in areas in Kerala has made expenses higher and is affecting the poorer strata of society. This is especially crippling them financially in a time when corona virus has affected their finances already.
Ticket fares remain the same in areas between Mangaluru and Talapady on the state border. From Talapady to Kasargod, Rs. 11 has increased as compared to earlier fares. Earlier, one could travel from Kasargod to Mangaluru with Rs. 57, now one has to spend Rs. 68.
Tweets by an organisation known as Sahayatri pointing fingers at transport corporations of both Kerala and Karnataka suggest dissent regarding the fare hikes. As a response to the tweets, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation divisional traffic controller explained that the hike in fares in Kerala is in accordance with the agreements with the Karnataka government. BJP Kasargod district president, K Srikanth was of the opinion that on the occasion of a time like that of Covid -19, the hike in fares is both regrettable as well as shameful.
After recent improvements, almost 60 percent of the buses that helped people commute from Karnataka to Kerala are back on the routes. 58 buses plied from Karnataka on Thursday. The rush in these buses are pretty less as compared to pre- Covid times. However, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s Kasargod traffic controller, Shantaram said that there is an increase in the number of people travelling by these buses each day.
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