Kochi: In what may provide a big relief to hundreds of commuters travelling to Bengaluru and back, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) would in another two weeks start deploying additional luxury multi-axle buses in routes so far monopolised by private contract carriage operators.
For this, the corporation has started procuring 50 premium class multi-axle air-conditioned buses to be deployed on a wet-lease basis.
"We've floated tenders to hire the buses for a period of three months initially. The same will be deployed mainly on Begaluru route on contract basis, i.e, point to point service from the middle of this month. We aim to finalise the tender by May 9 and start procuring buses in another one week," said a senior KSRTC official.
The measure comes in the aftermath of Kallada bus bashing incident when the Kerala and Karnataka governments decided to deploy buses in the sector monopolised by private players.
The corporation has also applied for the required permission from the Transport Department to operate contract carriage services.
"We'll study passenger demands during this period and operate to destinations like Puducherry or Mysore based on demand. The whole aim is to alleviate the travelling woes of inter-state passengers," the official said.
Upon consolidating the routes based on passenger demand, the corporation will again hire luxury buses (based on demand) for a period of one year.
Meanwhile, the corporation achieved a record revenue collection of Rs 189.84 crore for the month of April after the dismal performances in February and March.
"We fixed revenue targets for every depot and gave strict instructions to the unit heads to achieve the same by measures like avoiding convoy services, operating buses on the basis of demand and the like," the official said.For instance the Ernakulam depot was given a daily revenue target of Rs 13, 61, 906.
"We achieved the target 11 times when daily revenue collection touched upto Rs 16 lakh. This was by operating more services to Bengaluru in the wake of Kallada bus bashing incident and also by deploying buses in demand routes," said V M Tajudheen, Ernakulam District Transport Officer.
