KSRTC trouble: Where to park the 100 new buses?

KOCHI: Who will drive the 100 KSRTC buses newly allocated to Ernakulam depot and where would they be parked? These are the questions puzzling KSRTC authorities in Ernakulam.That 100 more KSRTC buses are being added to the Ernakulam depot is certainly going be a calming news for commuters in the city, but, for the officials at KSRTC, it will be a massive challenge to accommodate these vehicles in a depot already suffocating due to severe space crunch.The south bus stand already accommodates buses  above its capacity. “We have now 184 buses in the depot and there are also buses from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.The bus stand does not have the capacity to allocate space for more buses at the moment,” Assistant Transport Officer (ATO), P K Satheesh Kumar said.The conundrum does not stop there for the authorities. Apart from space worries, there is also the shortage of drivers to contend with. The situation could clearly worsen when the proposed 100 buses are added to the depot. “We have requested the Employment Exchange officials to assist in appointing 500 more drivers in Ernakulam. But we are yet to receive a positive reply from them,” the ATO said.The authorities also said that they shifted some of the Thirukochi buses to other depot in order to avoid congestion at the bus stand. There are also plans to shift some services to the Vyttila Mobility Hub to tackle the problem.