The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is rolling out many measures to increase revenue from the fleet and and to put it to optimal use.

After the Buses on Demand (BonD) service in the morning and evening peak hours for short-distance travellers and ‘relay’ services for long-distance passengers, the utility has now come up with ‘unlimited ordinary service.’

The new service, to be launched mainly in the southern districts, will primarily focus on the city and mofussil routes. Instead of the current practice of stopping only at the designated bus stops, these buses will halt and pick up passengers on demand. The KSRTC is taking a leaf out of the highly successful practice followed by private buses that stop on demand at any place. “Through this, we hope to win over short-distance commuters and those using other modes of transport,” a top official of the operations wing said.

‘Stay’ at last bus stop

The KSRTC has also decided not to operate schedules that do not fetch at least ₹25 per km. Another initiative is not to operate ‘ferry services’ back to the base depot from the last bus stop. Instead, the official said, the buses would be positioned at these points and crew would be paid ₹2 per km for the distance from the base depot as a stay allowance. Those in the locality will be given preference as crew in these buses as they will be allowed to go home after parking the buses.

The utility has asked unit officers to look into the unviable schedules as the aim is to reduce fuel consumption by 15% and increase revenue by 25% in the post-pandemic era.

Poor collection

On Thursday, the first working day after Onam holidays, the KSRTC operated 1,900 buses. The lack of revenue from the fleet is a major concern. On Wednesday, the revenue from the 1,501 buses was just Rs . 95 lakh. “The per km revenue is pegged around ₹24. The money is enough just to foot the fuel bill. A revenue of ₹52 per km is needed to avoid loss from operations,” he added.