KTCL mulls 30-seater buses in view of COVID challenges

Panaji: With the COVID-19 fear bringing change in behavioural pattern of public towards commuting in public transportation, the Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) is planning to modify their buses given social distancing challenges.

The corporation is contemplating to operate buses with seats arranged in a way that physical distancing can be followed with three-row seating post lockdown.

However, this will be well discussed and deliberated before placing it before the government.

The seating capacity of the bus will be reduced to 30 from 40, which means that the passenger occupancy ratio will be around 70 per cent. The corporation since May 4 has seen drastic reduction in passengers and earnings by 80 per cent amidst lockdown.

KTCL is running 225 buses on different routes, including the non-profitable ones, linking the rural to urban areas but there is no shuttle service in operation due to poor demand from the passengers.

According to official data, in normal times around 1 lakh people commute daily in Kadamba buses with 80,000 passengers traveling inter-state and inter-city and 20,000 intra-state.

“We are facing 80 per cent reduction in passenger occupancy on daily basis from 1 lakh to 19,000 as people are avoiding use of public transportation over fear of COVID infection and prefer to travel by their own vehicle,” KTCL general manager S Ghate said.

It is expected that the number of people using public transport in the state could be 40 per cent lower than normal after the end of the coronavirus lockdown.

Ghate said there is no doubt that this situation has opened up different ways of working for many, but the public transport operators will have to work harder to convince commuters that they will be safe from the virus. “We may also have to modify our buses with provision for social distancing while the traveller will have to wear mask and gloves before boarding the bus”, he added.

Of the total earnings, nearly 90 per cent goes into paying salaries for employees, operational and maintenance costs, interest on borrowing and depreciation.

The corporation totally relies on government in funding the revenue gaps to be able to pay employees and tide over the difficulties arising due to lockdown.