The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (Karnataka RTC) announced in a statement on Wednesday that it will be resuming bus services from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Puttur and other places in Karnataka to Kerala. The services will resume from July 12 and will be carried out “based on traffic density and need.” The Karnataka RTC had stopped its bus services to other states in April after the state went into lockdown following a massive spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.
In addition to this, the Karnataka RTC’s statement also stipulated the requirements for passengers who wish to travel from Kerala to Karnataka. The statement read, “Passengers travelling from Kerala to Karnataka in KSRTC buses have to carry COVID-19 negative test certificate not older than 72 hours or vaccination certificate of having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as per the guidelines of Government of Karnataka.”
The statement also said that students and other people from Kerala who visit Karnataka daily for reasons such as education, business or any other purpose must mandatorily undergo a RT-PCR test once in 15 days and carry a negative test certificate with them. The statement also mentioned that it is mandatory for all passengers to wear a face mask while travelling and requested passengers to compulsorily follow all the COVID-19 guidelines when travelling in Karnataka RTC buses.
The statement also included details about how travellers can book their tickets. It said, “Passengers can book tickets in advance online at ksrtc.karnataka.gov.in / www.ksrtc.in or through KSRTC / Franchisee advance reservation counters for the above services. The passengers are requested to avail the above facilities.”
On June 25, the Karnataka RTC had resumed operations from Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Mangaluru and other places in the state to Mumbai, Pune, Miraj, Sollapur, Pandharapur and Tuljapur in Maharashtra. Similarly, on June 22, it had resumed operations to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.