Kerala transport corporation to shut unviable routes

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), whose monthly losses rose to Rs 54 crore, is now in the process of cancelling all unviable services. Monthly losses increased 20 per cent during the last six-month period as against a loss of Rs 45 crore it registered in January this year.

Though the state government extended Rs 28 crore as an urgent financial aid, the increase in working costs coupled with the huge revenue loss had led to a deep crisis now.

A senior officer of the corporation told Business Standard that the average daily loss in each office in July was Rs 2 lakh. It has 87 such offices (including 24 depots, 45 sub-depots and 18 operating centres), and incurs a daily loss of Rs 1.74 crore. Hike in diesel price, increase in maintenance and repair cost, salary and pension were the main reasons for cost escalation.

Mindful of rising losses, the corporation had started trimming services since January and this, in turn, has caused a sharp fall in revenue. The average daily collection dropped to Rs 4.21 crore in July from Rs 4.67 crore, six months ago, mainly due to a drop in number of services. Average earnings per kilometre too decreased to Rs 27.89 in July from Rs 30.83 in January. Also, average earnings per bus dropped from Rs 10,049 to a recent low of Rs 9,068.

It was able to reduce the consumption of diesel by reducing the services, but the increase in diesel price had offset this. Fixed expenses like salary and maintenance of buses too have deepened the crisis. Average maintenance cost per bus is Rs 6,500 even though the bus is not in service. Also a huge amount goes towards pension.

It had decided to stop schedules that have a daily average revenue below Rs 5,000. Accordingly, a large number of schedules have been either stopped or temporarily cancelled. As a result, commuters are facing problems as some routes in the state have been nationalised and only KSRTC buses ply on those routes.

The problem is more serious in districts like Idukki, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram where KSRTC is the main mode of public transportation.

According to the corporation, a bus which runs around 200 km daily requires at least 50 litres of diesel. It has to now pay Rs 54.31 for a litre of diesel and the average daily cost per bus on diesel alone is Rs 2,715.

The average mileage is 4.5 km and the minimum daily expense on each bus is Rs 5,000, including salary. The average staff pattern in KSRTC is 2.5 persons per bus. Unfortunately the average collection on some routes is below Rs 1,000. Incremental hike in diesel in the last six months has caused an additional burden of Rs 18 -20 crore per month. The average monthly fuel bill now comes to Rs 80 crore.

KSRTC, which has a fleet of 6,136 buses, operates 5,590 schedules on a daily basis.