The corporation may be seeking state government’s permission to float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for running low-floor Volvo AC buses, but they don’t have any plan to make the service profitable.
The civic body’s failure does not stop at this. They have failed to make the service popular among citizens as envisaged by the JNNURM scheme, and have not bothered to provide adequate parking facilities for users taking these buses from the suburbs. The corporation has also taken any measures or force KSRTC to ensure that the purpose is served.
When the AC low-floor buses were pressed into service, the plan was to provide parking facilities to those coming to the city from the suburbs by car. Though parking facilities should have been arranged at various points in the city connecting the suburbs, authorities have not done anything to arrange them. “Once the construction of mobility hub is complete, there will be provision for car parking. Other than the proposed parking facility at mobility hub, there are no plans for arranging parking spaces at various points in the city,” said Sebastian Thomas, KSRTC zonal officer.
According KSRTC officials, the Volvo buses have also failed to generate revenue. “At first, the revenue from services in Kochi had reached the break-even level, while the service in Thiruvananthapuram was running at a loss. Now the situation has reversed. The revenue from the Kochi buses have decreased,” Sebastian said. The decision to use the AC low-floor buses for long distance service was taken against this backdrop.
The KSRTC was also not keen on identifying new routes to operate city services. Many councillors belonging to both ruling and opposition had demanded the intervention of the civic body in fixing the routes. But corporation authorities didn’t do anything in this regard. “The first step is to float an SPV. Then we will be able to take care of all these issues,” Mayor Tony Chammany said. He, meanwhile, agreed that the only effort the civic body had made for floating an SPV was writing a letter to the state government. This was done in 2009 – well before the present council assumed power.
The corporation’s failure to constitute the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) has also added to its Volvo woes. “When UMTA comes into existence, a control room will be set up to monitor the movement of buses.
This would help to provide the latest update on commuters and those regarding the movement of buses,” said K J Sohan, chairman, town planning committee.If UMTA is constituted, it could have fixed the routes of these buses. But the civic body has, so far, failed to pressurise the state government in bringing legislation in this regard.
Source: Times Of India
