THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort to address its financial burden, the crisis-ridden State Road Transport Corporation is planning to expand its services by introducing new fleets on wet lease. The corporation plans to operate services to various routes where currently there are no KSRTC services. It aims to run 80 percent of the services operating across the state. The corporation which currently owns about 5,600 buses, should take at least 15,000 buses on lease to achieve the targeted 80 pc.
The corporation had taken many initiatives recently to overcome its financial burden. One of them - the electric bus - was found successful and hence the corporation is planning to extend the service. In other southern states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respective state RTCs own 90 per cent of the passenger service buses while the remaining are under private companies. In Kerala, only 20 per cent services are owned by the corporation.
KSRTC is planning to begin the initiative targeting private bus routes. Currently the corporation has a rate contract with the Association of State Road Transport Undertaking (ASRTU), for buying electric vehicles on wet lease. It is also planning to bid the tender with other companies.
“With this initiative no KSRTC employee will lose his job. Also, more employment opportunities can be expected. Under financial burden, starting new services by buying new buses will add up to losses. So the corporation has decided to buy new fleets on wet lease with the Central government grant,” said Tomin J Thachankary, KSRTC CMD.
A wet lease vehicle like the one running from Thiruvananthapuram to Bengaluru is a necessity for the corporation. The leased company will provide the vehicle, driver, maintenance, tax and cleaning services, while KSRTC will be responsible for providing conductor and fuel or electricity for the bus.