Faced with virtually no income from the buses they own, the steep fall in patronage and mounting operational expenses due to the skyrocketing fuel price, bus operators in Kochi have envisaged a smart buses consortium which will shortly be christened and registered.
The aim is to convert their existing fleet of buses as “smart buses” that operate on CNG and other fuel sources that cause little air and sound pollution, have CCTV, GPS, smart ticketing and also have public information system (PIS), it is learnt.
This comes in the wake of only around 200 of the 1,000 city and mofussil service buses regularly operating in the Greater Kochi area, despite relaxation in the pandemic norms. Most of the other buses have not operated for over a year, with their owners submitting the G-form to MVD, making it clear that the buses will not operate, in order to get exemption from vehicle tax which alone accounts for up to ₹1.20 lakh per year.
“Even the buses that are in operation are not getting anything beyond ₹5,000 per day, although they need at least ₹8,000 to operate in a feasible manner. Employees of most buses are being paid one-third of their wages due to the fall in the revenue. The government is not stepping in with any help either and this could prove the death knell for the sector. It is in this dire situation that like-minded bus operators have come together to form a smart consortium,” said a bus operator, who is associated with the venture.
The main aim is to retrofit CNG kits in buses. Its expenses would come to around ₹5 lakh per bus and this can be recouped in less than two years - considering the over ₹30 price difference between diesel and CNG. But most operators are not in a position to raise even this much amount. “Banks and financial institutions are unwilling to extend us loans since the CIBIL score of most operators is low, since they have availed of the moratorium on repaying loans. The government must intervene so that cooperative banks or societies extend interest-free loans to help us stay afloat in the turbulent situation. It must also forgo taxes on diesel meant for public transport buses,” said another bus operator.