THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar has thrown down a challenge to Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor V V Rajesh, asking him to reclaim the 113 electric buses procured under the Smart City project and operated by the KSRTC, if he has complaints regarding the present system. The minister added that if the corporation takes the vehicles back, KSRTC will deploy 150 buses to fill the gap.
The remarks came in response to the mayor’s allegation that the KSRTC was running e-buses beyond the city limits, violating project clauses. “If the mayor insists on changing the present system, all he needs to do is submit a letter to the KSRTC CMD. Within 24 hours, the buses will be handed back to the corporation,” Ganesh said. “Let them operate the vehicles if they have the confidence,” he added.
The minister clarified that only the buses would be returned — staff, ticketing machines, and depots would remain with KSRTC. He stressed that restricting operations would mean denying services to commuters in the outskirts, though only a handful of Smart City buses currently run 3-4 km beyond city limits. “The mayor has been misled. We do not operate electric buses outside the district. Within the district, we use our own fleet to serve far-off areas,” he said.
The minister also rejected claims that the buses were funded solely by the Centre or the corporation. “Under the Smart City project, both the Centre and the state contributed Rs 500 crore each, while the corporation pitched in Rs 135.7 crore. Effectively, the state shoulders 60% of the project cost,” he explained.
KSRTC owns 50 more electric buses, apart from the 113 Smart City buses. Each costs about Rs 1 crore, nearly four times the price of a diesel bus. While an electric bus earns Rs 42 per kilometre, a diesel bus generates Rs 52. Operations are governed by a tripartite agreement between the corporation, Smart City, and KSRTC Swift.
Since assuming office two years ago, Ganesh reversed his predecessor Antony Raju’s stance on electric buses and introduced route rationalisation, which boosted average daily collections per bus from Rs 2,500 to Rs 8,500-9,000.
“Electric buses are loss-making. They cost `1 crore each, require expensive battery replacements every five years, and tyres wear out after 30,000 km. With the price of a single battery, we could buy a diesel bus,” he said.
The corporation’s concerns over KSRTC’s stance are not new. Similar objections were raised during the previous regime under Mayor Arya Rajendran, and the issue of electric buses has once again surfaced in the newly formed council.