The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has doubled the seats reserved for senior citizens from four to eight in its ordinary and Limited Stop services.
Also, the buses would now have an additional reservation category – senior women citizens. This is in the wake of a recent government order to increase the reserved seats from ten per cent to twenty per cent and to allot separate quota for men and women.
“In the wake of the government order, such buses will have four seats reserved for elderly women which will be near the ‘seats for ladies’. The conductors should ensure that such people get
the seat once they board the bus,” a new circular (TR 037347/2012) sent to unit centres across the state said.
In the case of fast passenger and lower class category buses for which there is no online reservation facility, two seats each will be allotted to senior citizen male and females.
Meanwhile, the private buses are refusing to add the extra category saying that already seats are reserved for ladies.
“Most of the city services are 31-seater or maximum 38 seater ones. It’s not practical to reserve more seats as the commuters won’t heed to the conductors’ requests. We’ve not marked any seats for senior women citizen,” said a Private Bus Owners Federation member.
Source: Deccan Chronicle
