Thiruvananthapuram: Initial week has been fairly good for the new subsidiary of state-run public transporter despite a few unsavoury incidents. The collection report of the newly launched SWIFT services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) indicates its services have attracted a huge response, even though they were involved in some accidents during the first few days. As per official data, in the first week since the inaugural day, April 11, SWIFT buses earned a fairly decent collection of Rs 35,38,291.
During the April 11-17 period, the SWIFT buses covered a distance of 78,415 km. The highest collections came from the services to and from Bengaluru.
The KSRTC recently formed a separate company, 'SWIFT' for long-distance services, and the bus crew have been drafted on contract basis.
"Even though SWIFT buses are earning good collections, we need to wait for some more months to know whether KSRTC would cut profits from the venture," said K V Rajendran, the general manager of SWIFT.
"At the same time, the services are profitable for the SWIFT company," he added.
In the first phase, 30 SWIFT buses have been let out for the KSRTC, which pays a rent of Rs 26 per km for multi-axle buses and Rs 20 per km for other carriers. Meanwhile, SWIFT pays a fee to KSRTC for utilising its facilities.
"We are planning to introduce 100 new SWIFT buses in April. These buses would be arranged utilizing an amount of Rs 50 crore granted by the government from the Plan Fund," said Rajendran.
The 100 buses in the SWIFT fleet include eight air-conditioned Volvo sleepers, 20 AC semi-sleeper and 72 non-AC buses. Of these vehicles, eight Volvo buses are conducting services at present and the remaining are expected to join the fleet soon. The Volvo buses cover the Bengaluru route and there are services from Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.
Another trial service to Bengaluru departs from Kaniyapuram, near Technopark, in Thiruvananthapuram district and takes the Thiruvananthapuram– Nagercoil route. "Four hours of travel time can be saved from Thiruvananthapuram to Bengaluru via Nagercoil, compared to the Palakkad-Salem route," said a SWIFT official. This service leaves Kaniyapuram at 7 pm.
Meanwhile, the SWIFT authorities hope to reduce the operational costs when more long-distance services are introduced.
