Bus stand in Hubli will not be shifted, says Manivannan

Bus stand in Hubli will not be shifted, says Manivannan
The Hindu

HUBLI: P. Manivannan, Managing Director of the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), has denied that there is a move to shift bus services from the old bus stand to the new bus stand in Hubli, putting to rest speculations arising out of the decision taken at the recent meeting of the City Improvement Infrastructure Committee.

The City Improvement Infrastructure Committee had decided to shift the old bus stands in Hubli and Dharwad from September 15.

Mr. Manivannan, however, said that in Dharwad the city bus terminus will be moved to the old bus stand area and that the old bus stand will be shifted to the new bus stand located on the Bangalore-Pune national highway.

He said the proposal to shift the operations from the old bus stand to the new bus stand in Hubli and that of providing space for private bus operators to operate from the new bus stand are part of the same package and that the package has to be implemented fully. Now that there is no decision on providing space for the private operators in the new bus stand, there is no question of shifting NWKRTC bus operations to the new bus stand. Any unilateral move, he said, will affect the finances of NWKRTC.

Mr. Manivannan said that if the old bus is shifted, it will be limited to long distance bus services and that short distance buses, covering less than 100 km will continue to touch the old bus stand in Hubli.

On providing space for private operators in the new bus stand, he said this has been planned to ensure that the travelling public got transport facility, whether the private or the state transport at one place only.

This facility is proposed to be extended by levying a fee on private operators. The fee levied on private operators will be such that it will give a fare advantage to state road transport buses, he said.

But the arrangement has to be worked out through an agreement between the NWKRTC and the private operators, and the latter must also given an undertaking that their buses will not stop anywhere in the town to pick up passengers and that their long distance buses hit the national highway straight from the new bus stand as would be done by the state transport buses.