The bus industry is at a loss, whether it is a government or private bus. What is the way to make up for the loss? Bus owners want to increase the charge. The government says that is the way. Bus owners are on strike demanding an increase in charges. This is the ‘Tom and Jerry’ game that has been going on for the last 35 years.
Bus owners will declare a strike. The government will call for a discussion. The minimum charge will be Rs. The government will not agree. The strike will continue. Eventually, the government will raise the minimum charge to 10. The strike will end. Along with this, the government will increase the road tax. Profit for the government. Lots of poor people being pocketed! Will the increase in bus fares solve the problems of bus owners?
I do not know. The reason for the current crisis is the uncontrolled increase in diesel prices. In the past, it was said that the strike. In those days, it was often one or two rupees more for diesel in two or three years. Not today, but one or two rupees a day. Things turned upside down. The gist is that the game as a whole has changed. The bus owners and the government are in total doubt. It has been 4 months since the bus owners demanded an increase in bus fares and the government agreed to do so. This is the reason for not adding, total confusion.
Will it be the last addition?
This time we can end the strike of the bus owners by increasing the charge. Will there be such a strike in two years? Is it possible to end the strike by raising the charge? The answer to these questions is another question, will there be a private bus industry in Kerala after two years? Five years ago, there were 30,000 private buses in Kerala. Currently 8000. The average age of existing private buses is 12–13 years. The maximum age of buses is 15 years. The law says that the last buses should be given to be demolished. That means existing buses will be demolished in two years. Nobody buys new buses.
Almost all bus owners are over 55 years old. Young people do not come to this area. No new owners or buses. The existing one will disappear in two years. So what about this industry? It will disappear. There is a Chinese proverb – When you have read the last part of a book, close it. The book Private Bus Industry is about to close. That said, whether this addition will be the last addition.
What about ordinary people without cars and bikes?
Bus passengers now include women, students or the elderly who do not have a steady income and do not know how to drive a two-wheeler. They cannot be abandoned. Private buses handle 70% of the public transport in Kerala. 95% of students use private buses. The current student charge is only 12.5% of the actual rate.
Assuming that one bus carries 600 people a day, private buses handle a total of 48 lakh passengers. KSRTC 18 lakhs. When the government pays Rs 100 crore per month to KSRTC, the private bus owners demanded a quarter of their tax exemption. This amount alone is `32 crore. It should also be remembered that this is when the government receives crores of rupees from private buses in the form of road tax and GST on fuel, spare parts and insurance prices.
White or hot?
The name is Anavandi. If you ask what an elephant is, some will say it is a white elephant and some will say it is a tappana. The name that suits KSRTC is Kuzhiyana. The pit will never come up, it will dig and go down. He lives on a monthly donation of Rs 100 crore from the government. Generally credited with serving something in the country. Owns 6000 buses. The rolling will be done in KSRTC only if 400 buses are added to it every year. But in the last 6 years, KSRTC has bought only 110 buses. Need money to buy a bus?
Now the bus is looking for ‘Dry Lease’. The bus will be rented, driver, conductor and fuel will be provided by KSRTC. Before the Kovid era, it ran 17 million kilometers per day. At present, the race is only 10 lakh km. Reduced by 40%. The demand of KSRTC for the current crisis is also an increase in charges. As a major dealer, diesel is no longer available at such a low price. No new bus. Many routes do not run because there are no buses. There is no provision for payment of salaries and pensions to employees. KSRTC also thinks that it will be saved if the charge is increased.
Half a bus for a thousand people
The national policy is to have 1.33 buses per 1000 people. If that is the case, Kerala needs 35,000–50,000 buses depending on its population. There are only 0.5 buses per 1000 people. 8000 private buses and 3000 KSRTC buses. Kerala will be on par with the US in the number of private vehicles. 425 vehicles per 1000 people in Kerala. It should be noted that the national average is 18 vehicles per 1000 people. That’s not to say that people have stopped traveling just because the number of buses has decreased. So many people bought private vehicles.
Here are some of the figures from the current financial review report. 65% of the total vehicles in Kerala are two wheelers. Bus share is only 1%. The number of buses has dropped from 30,000 to 8,000, but there is no significant travel hassle because so many people have switched to two-wheelers. People like personal comfort. None of those who left the bus will return to the bus. Even though petrol costs Rs 200 per liter, they still prefer two-wheelers. And will continue to do so. This habit can only be changed through certain policy interventions, including an additional tax on two-wheelers.
Holy ‘cow’
KSRTC is a holy cow to the government. Help is irrational. In the past, private super class buses used to run on routes of more than 140 km. All those routes were taken over by KSRTC but none of them started service. The reason is that there is no bus to run on the super class route. A new bus will cost around Rs 45-50 lakh. Once the buses are properly routed, you can start buying new ones.
First 5 years Super Class. Ordinary for the next 5 years. Light work like school bus for next 5 years. If this cycle is broken, the industry will disappear. How long will it take for idiots to spend Rs 45 lakh on a new bus and run it as an ordinary one? This is one of the reasons why private bus owners do not take new buses. KSRTC has a super class route. But there is no money to buy a bus. As a result, the number of buses is reduced.
Digital permit instead of road tax?
Some buses operate for 8 hours. Some 12 hours. There are also 16- and 24-hour buses. The road tax is the same for everything. If the road tax is waived without increasing the fare, the losses of the bus owners can be remedied to some extent. Digital permit should be introduced instead of road tax.
Design 30,000–35,000 permits statewide. All online bidding. There will definitely be competition. The government charges Rs 5,000 for a permit. Some permits have a market value of up to Rs 5 lakh. The bidding rate will be different for a 24-hour running permit and an 8-hour permit. Even if the road tax goes away, the government’s revenue on this item will increase.
KSRTC will not be able to reach the national average of 1.33 per thousand for public transport. The previous government paid Rs 6,000 crore to KSRTC. How long can KSRTC be maintained? KSRTC is the number one loss making PSU. It has been in the same position for a long time and will continue to be so. KSRTC should be open to the private sector. Including routes and the bus stand. Quality will improve when competition comes. KSRTC has stands at eye-catching locations in all cities. Let private buses enter there too. Those stands will become the transport port. KSRTC may charge a fee for using the stand from private buses. All this is stated in the Central Policy on Public Transport.
Need an e-bus?
KSRTC’s Clean Smart Bus Limited currently owns 10E buses. The service will run from Aluva to Thrissur. This is a monopoly route for KSRTC. The price of the e-bus is Rs 1 crore. One third of this is battery cost. The Central Government has announced a battery swapping policy. E-bus service will not be successful without battery swapping. But it will take time for this policy to take effect. What can be done until then?
The solution is to promote new CNG buses. Bus owners have long demanded diesel at subsidized rates. Diesel subsidy is not easy as it is today and can be misused. But CNG can be subsidized. Copying CNG cans is not easy. It is also good for the environment as it emits less carbon emissions. VAT on diesel is 60%. 30% received by the State. It can be reduced even more. If the road tax is waived and the fuel subsidy is paid, then the bus fare hike can be waived.
Student Concession
Student Concession has been a hot topic for ages. The humiliation that students face in the name of concussion has continued for decades. Girls are most affected by this. 20% of bus passengers are students. It is now close to 50%. The student concession is fixed and the remaining amount can be paid by the government to the bus owners. If the minimum charge is Rs.10, set the student concession to 50%. Children pay Rs. The remaining Rs 5 can be paid by the government to the respective bus owners. This can be implemented as easily as LPG was subsidized.
This has been implemented in BMTC, Bengaluru. If BMTC, with a population of 1.5 crore and 6500 buses, can do this, so can Kerala. It is managed by Axis Bank in Bangalore. In this case, the buses will compete to pick up the children. Women can be considered in the same way that students solve problems. In the states of Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, women are given special consideration. The concession will be borne by the government. The bus owner should not carry that burden. It can be started from Kochi, which has been set up by the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.
Buses in Kochi
Metro runs from Aluva to Tripunithura Pettah. A total of 25 trains. 3 coaches each. That is equivalent to 150 buses. But with the advent of the Metro, only 400 buses disappeared from the city service. The metro runs in a southerly direction. Buses also run in the same direction. Nobody benefits from this. Both have an advantage if the bus runs east-west across the metro that runs south-north. The plan now is to arrange bus routes in this way. This can only lead to a permit resignation again.
In this age of technology, flexi route and flexi charge are required. The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority can implement this. Nandan Nilekani’s Beacon Foundation is currently working for KMTA. The first step is to create an aggregator platform for buses. Drive these buses according to the demand of the passengers. Uber operates similar services in Delhi and Hyderabad. Of the 630 cities where Uber operates car services, only 32 have pooling services. One of them is Kochi. So Kochi is no stranger to this. Leave it to the passenger to decide which is convenient. When running the Metro from South to North and the bus from East to West, the rates of both should be uniform.
Transport Department or KSRTC Governing Body?
It is laughable to examine the role of our Department of Transportation. They are not worried about the 30,000 buses running down to 8000. This is because they are only interested in collecting taxes and issuing permits. KSRTC does not want both. The private bus industry is heavily regulated and KSRTC is being over-indulged in.
An independent system is needed to run the bus industry. The Metropolitan Transport Authority in Kochi is just the beginning. It must be strengthened. Let them decide the rate and route of public transport. Government oversight alone is enough. If public transport is made free like this, bus transport will survive.
English Summary: Is Kerala’s Private Bus Industry Moving towards an End?