THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has signalled that it would operate fewer bus services on less profitable routes in a bid to reduce operational expenses. The move will result in minimal bus services in rural areas.The management has given strict instructions to the depots to reschedule buses that earn less than Rs 25 per kilometre. Reason: The earning won’t be sufficient even to cover the fuel expenses, let alone the wages of crew.
In addition, KSRTC chairman and managing director Biju Prabhakar has said that earnings per trip should be the criterion for operating the buses. “We are spending 74% of the revenue on fuel and spare parts. We can go forward only by reducing it to 45%. Hence, revenue per trip should be considered apart from earnings per kilometre and per bus,” Biju Prabhakar said in a note to the employees.The proportion can be reduced either by increasing the revenue or by reducing the number of trips selectively. However, it is more likely that KSRTC will reduce the number of trips on loss-making routes.
Transport Minister Antony Raju had already informed the assembly that KSRTC will not be operating more than 3,300 buses till early next year. It would mean that the corporation would follow the long-held strategy of private buses — to operate services mostly during peak hours. It has withdrawn 1,750 buses from the road during Covid as it became nonviable.Lack of maintenance of these buses has made it a daunting task for the KSRTC to make them operational again.
The spare parts of these buses were used to make other buses operational.When KSRTC decided to operate 650 buses for Sabarimala special service and educational institutions, it had to spend an additional Rs 5 crore for spare parts. “The KSRTC has slowly been withdrawing from rural areas. The Covid situation accelerated the move. It has stopped all the stay services to rural areas and they are unlikely to be restored. Now, many passengers have switched to two-wheelers and other modes of transport,” said consumer activist Dijo Kappan.
The transport minister has mooted the idea of ‘Grama Vandi’, a project started by KSRTC to facilitate bus services to rural areas with the fuel support from local bodies. However, Dijo said that it would be more of a gimmick than a concrete plan.Pradeep Sreedhar of Kerala State Road Transport Employees Union said the project was to help parallel service operators who have started eating into the revenue of KSRTC by operating unauthorised services.