Public transport system in Mangalore proves perilous

This coastal city is dreaded by the motorists from all parts of the country. But the best drivers of the country will also be put to a real hardship if they were to drive in Mangalore. The public transport system here is perhaps the most dangerously run system and now faces the danger of being a cartel in itself.

The police department doles out the statistics that the death rates in the Mangalore City Police Commissionerate limits (just 17 police stations) was going up. In 2008 the number of deaths was 129. In 2009, it was 130 and in 2010 it was 167. About 50% of these deaths on a year to year basis was due to the public transport (city and mofussil buses).

The figures of Dakshina Kannada district are more startling. According to the District Crime Investigation Bureau statistics, in 2008, there were 574 cases of accidents out of which 84 people died, in 2009 the total accidents were 598 out of which 107 were fatal. In 2010 there were 595 cases out of which 90 persons were killed and 35% of the fatalities were due to public transport buses.
In 2012, till September 26 persons have lost their lives due to public transport in Mangalore city alone.

The private bus operators dominate the public transport system in Mangalore city in particular, and Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district in general. There are about 600 private buses servicing the system.

The lobby is so powerful that it has minimised the mighty KSRTC in these two districts. They have also managed to bring a court order against KSRTC plying in the city and many of the interior roads monopolising the public transport.

Though the KSRTC Mangalore division was putting up a brave fight for its share, the transport ministry has laid down arms in front of the private operators. The KSRTC has just six buses running between Mangalore and Manipal, and in the city sector it has another six buses.

But the competition has been intense between the operators. Taking advantage of the amendment of the Public Transport Act of 1972 in 1989, every person who desired to plunge into the public transport business gets a permit. As a result, there are more single bus owners than the fleet owners, which is a dangerous development for a public transport system as the single bus operators are nothing short of bounty hunters and engage in a mad rush at top speeds for picking up every passenger.

The permit holder and bus owner lease the vehicle to a bunch of drivers and conductors on the conditions of paying him back every day which includes his bank payment, wear and tear and his individual profit.

“All single bus operators do this which has unleashed a mad rush on the roads of Mangalore and Udupi due to which public safety is in serious jeopardy. We have brought this unhealthy practice to the notice of the several transport ministers and the transport commissioners in the past but there was no action,” said Hanumanth Kamath, president of the Nagarika Hitarakshana Vedike of Mangalore.