Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Monday launched around 70 new buses as part of the first phase of 380 Karnataka Sarige buses.

Speaking to media persons after launching the new buses, Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy said the KSRTC plans to induct 1,594 buses by the end of March 2017. “Today we have launched 70 new buses as part of the plan to launch 380 buses. The remaining 310 buses will be introduced by the end of November this year,” Minister Ramalinga Reddy said.

Apart from this, the KSRTC is planning to introduce seven new flybuses buses directly from Bengaluru International Airport to Tirupati, Madikeri and Salem. At present, Bengaluru-Mysuru (five buses) and Bengaluru-Kundapur(two buses) are operating. It has also decided to install CCTV cameras in all depots, bus stations, regional workshops and divisional workshops to bring transparency.

“We are planning to replace old buses by March this year. These new Volvo-Eicher buses are mainly for rural areas in the state. It also has a fuel efficiency of 5.8 KMPL, which is higher than other buses,” said Reddy. He said they will implement BS-VI norms for its buses by 2020 in a phased manner.

At present, four state road transport corporations are providing public transport services to 23,793 villages and catering to about 1.25 crore passengers with the help of 23,700 buses and 1.17 lakh man power.