KSRTC axes bus route: Reinstates it after driver gets emotional & video goes viral

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) recently announced their all-new long distance bus service Swift. This is a newly formed legally independent company that would run long distance buses of the KSRTC. The Corporation had plans to replace the old or traditional Interstate buses with one of the new KSRTC Swift buses. One such service that was stopped was Changanassery-Velankanni Interstate Super Express. After hearing the news, driver of the KSRTC bus on this route Mr. Ponnukkuttan became emotional as he had to bid farewell to the bus to which he was emotionally connected to. In an unexpected move, KSRTC has announced that they would be retaining the service.

The video report has been shared by Mathrubhumi News on their YouTube channel. KSRTC driver had earlier spoken to the media sharing his connection with the bus. It looks like the Transport Corporation saw the video and decided to acknowledge the whole hearted relationship that the driver had with the bus. The report mentions that Changanassery-Velankanni unlike many other routes was not in loss. It was only after media reported the incident authorities decided to reinstate the bus service in the route. The driver was extremely happy with the decision. According the previous order, the KSRTC Super Express service was ending on 19th April.

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The report mentions that Mr. Ponnukkuttan was driving the same bus in this route for the last 10 years and it came to him as a shock when he came to know that the Super Express service in this route was being stopped for Swift buses. Along with the driver, passengers were also happy about the decision. This particular bus and the route has  fan following in social media and ‘aana vandi’ Facebook groups.

Talking about the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Swift Service, the fleet consists of a new range of buses for interstate and long distance trips within Kerala. The Swift buses are different from regular KSRTC buses. They get Orange paint job with White design elements. It comes with many modern features and offers a premium experience to passengers. There are Volvo B11R multi axle and Ashok Leyland buses in the fleet. The Volvo B11R in the fleet is a sleep bus service mainly doing long distance Interstate services. The Volvo buses are named ‘Gajraj’. The Ashok Leyland buses are available as both AC and non-AC versions. The Ashok Leyland buses are named ‘Garuda’. These are not sleeper buses and mostly do long distance trips within Kerala.

As KSRTC-Swift is a legally independent company, the uniform of the driver and conductor is also different from regular KSRTC drivers. The driver and the conductor in a regular KSRTC have Sky Blue coloured Shirt and Navy Blue trousers. The KSRTC-Swift drivers on the other hand have Orange shirt and Black trousers. There is KSRTC Swift emblem on the shirt and the person driving the bus also wears a cap. The first KSRTC-Swift bus service from Thiruvananthapuram to Bengaluru was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on April 11.

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