Thiruvananthapuram: In a desperate move to conduct regular interstate services, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to take private super-class buses on lease.
In the preliminary phase, owners of super luxury-class buses aged less than four years have been invited to submit bids to conduct services on 23 routes. According to the conditions proposed by KSRTC, the buses have to ply on these routes at ticket fares decided by the public carrier.
Under existing rules, buses registered in other states have to pay a tax of Rs 2,500 per seat to conduct service in Kerala. When these buses are taken on lease by the KSRTC, they would be exempted from this tax. However, the bus owners have to pay a specific share of the profits to KSRTC.
KSRTC, which is currently facing a shortage of 300 buses on interstate routes, is planning to take at least 100 buses on lease to conduct the services.
Officials said that the Corporation had not purchased super-class buses for long-distance services for the past eight years. Shortage of buses was leading to cancellation of services even on profitable routes such as Bengaluru, Mookambika, Mysuru, Coimbatore, Sullia and Salem, they said.
According to the officials, KSRTC lacks funds to buy new buses. With an ageing fleet, the public carrier also cannot compete with private operators. The move to lease buses is mooted as a solution to these issues.
Apart from interstate services, several long-distance trips within the state are also being cancelled often. For instance, even the Thiruvananthapuram – Kozhikode AC low-floor services, which are fully booked on most days and earn considerable revenue to KSRTC, were cancelled without warning recently.
KSRTC is also unable to purchase spare-parts for buses due to the squeeze in funds.
