Thiruvananthapuram: The trial run of KSRTC’s electric bus began on Monday. The bus was flagged off by transport minister A K Saseendran at Central Bus Station KSRTC CMD Tomin J Thachankary, transport secretary K R Jyothilal, senior scientist at Natpac B Sreedevi and member councillor C K Jayalekshmi also attended the flag-off ceremony.The first day’s collection amounted to Rs 7,127.The bus will cover 248 km, in eleven trips, on day one. The corporation will assess the viability of the electric bus during the 15-day trial run.The bus , after recharging at KSRTC Central Works at Pappanamcode, will be taken to East Fort daily. From East Fort, the first trip of the bus will begin at 6.35am and via Pattom-Sreekaryam-Kazhakkoottam-Chanthavila and Pothencode will reach Venjaramoodu at 8am. The return trip will begin from Venjaramoodu at 8.25am and reach East Fort at 9.50am. The next trip will begin at 10.10am and via Thiruvallom-Pachalloor, will reach Kovalam at 10.50 am and return at 11am to reach East Fort at 11.40am. The next schedule begins at 12 noon to reach Kazhakkoottam at 12.45pm and will return nto East Fort at 1 pm and reach there by 1.45pm.Another trip to Kovalam will begin at 2.15pm from East Fort and will reach Kovalam at 2.55pm. It will return to East Fort at 3.15 pm and there at 3.55pm. A circular trip from East Fort at 4.15pm via Kannammoola- Ulloor -Pattom to reach East Fort at 4.55 pm is also included in the schedule. The last schedule from East Fort reaches Venjaramoodu at 6.45pm and will return from Venjaramoodu at 7am and concludes at East Fort at 8.25pm.Meanwhile, a protest was staged by Transport Democratic Federation at the inauguration venue, alleging a move to privatize the transport corporation by procuring fully-built buses. The agitators claimed the move will render employees in the mechanical department jobless.

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