Coronavirus: KSRTC to suspend inter-state services till March 31

BENGALURU: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to suspend inter-state services till March 31.

The move came after Karnataka government announced the closure of all its borders as part of the measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.

KSRTC operates 1076 buses to states like Tamil Nadu (404), Andhra Pradesh (366), Telangana (52), Kerala (186), Goa (20) and Maharashtra (48). However, services within Karnataka will not be affected. Other state-run bus corporations like NEKRTC and NWKRTC has also suspended services till March 31. Many private bus operators too suspended inter-state services.

Coronavirus in India live updates

The state-run bus corporations including

BMTC

have decided to scale down its services. “Passengers should travel only if it is essential and unavoidable. We have decided to operate only skeletal services" said a senior transport department official.

Meanwhile, railways has also decided to cancel all passenger train services including premium train services, mail/express trains, passenger trains, suburban trains, Kolkata Metro, Konkan Raiways, etc till March 31. However, goods train movements will continue to ensure the essential supplies to various parts of the country.

BMRCL on Saturday announced that Metro services will be regulated from March 23 to March 31 to facilitate social distancing. There will be no service between 10am and 4pm as well as 8pm and 6am (next day). The frequency of service from Monday will be: 6am and 8am at 10 minutes frequency (for persons working for only essential services), 8am to 10am at 5-minute frequency (for all having unavoidable and essential need to travel), 4pm to 5pm (10-minute frequency), 5pm to 7pm (5-minute frequency) and 7pm to 8 pm (10 minutes) frequency.

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