It is learnt that the Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd (KTCL) has recently restarted the interstate bus service to outstation destinations such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru for Goans returning home for Ganesh Chathurthi. This is a good move by KTC and needs to be continued even after the festive season. Initially, the state-owned bus transport service had commenced its operations from Goa to border areas like Belagavi, Karwar and Sawantwadi. Five buses are reportedly plying to Belagavi from the earlier one that was operating last month. It is understood that buses coming from other states to Goa have 70 per cent occupancy. It would be desirable to restrict the occupancy to just 50 per cent during the Covid pandemic times and increase gradually as the situation improves. In order to have occupancy of just 50 per cent, it may be necessary to ply more buses along the various routes. Another aspect is that instead of in-person booking of tickets at the KTC bus terminus, online ticket booking for passengers needs to be encouraged. This will reduce the number of travellers at the booking counter.
