Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Speed governors can save Rs.87.54 crore for KSRTC

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Corporation going ahead with steps to achieve fuel efficiency of 4.5 kmpl

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) can save Rs.87.54 crore annually towards fuel bill if the State-owned public sector undertaking installs speed governors in all buses in its fleet.

The projected savings in the fuel bill of the loss-making corporation has been arrived at on the basis of the fuel savings achieved when electronic speed governors were installed in two KSRTC buses operating from Thiruvananthapuram Central to Palakkad and Kozhikode four years ago.

The fuel savings were 24 litres a day in TP 600 Thiruvananthapuram-Palakkad Lightning Express and 17 litres a day in TP 2 Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode Air bus. The kilometre per litre (kmpl) in TP 600 went up from 4.552 to 5.351 once the gadget was installed and 4.568 to 4.993 in TP 2. As per the report of the District Transport Officer, the monthly fuel consumption of TP 600 came down from 3,637 litres to 3,070 litres once speed governors were installed.

Taking into account the diesel price of Rs.35.74 a litre, the monthly expenditure for fuel of KSRTC would be Rs.1,09,721 and Rs.13,16, 661 annually. The fuel bill monthly and annually without installing the speed governors would work out to be Rs.1,29,986 and Rs.15,59,836 respectively.

The amount saved from fuel cost per bus monthly comes to Rs.20,265. After deducting a 10 per cent for older buses, it would be Rs.18,238. The annual savings in the fuel bill for a bus will be Rs.2,18,862 and for 4,000 buses in the fleet the savings would be Rs.87.54 crore.

As per the report submitted to the Executive Director (Technical), KSRTC, although kmpl of both the buses improved considerably, complaint rate from passengers was high as the buses got delayed. Besides, non-adherence of the schedule and overtaking by other vehicles were the main problems faced by KSRTC once speed governors were installed in the buses.

KSRTC, which had installed the gadget in over 800 buses in the super class category in the first phase a couple of years ago, disconnected them later.

A top KSRTC official told The Hindu that the corporation was going ahead with steps to achieve fuel efficiency of 4.5 kmpl. The delay caused while installing the gadgets can be overcome by revising the schedule.

The KSRTC is also installing a bolt to accelerator pedal of the buses to reduce the speed. Mechanical experts say it would not save fuel for the KSRTC as the bolt will only block the throttle.

Road safety experts say the introduction of speed governors in the KSRTC buses will bring down road accidents caused by KSRTC buses to a great extent. It has also been pointed out that gadgets should be installed in the school buses and local buses of the KSRTC to overcome resistance.

As per Section 118 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, speed governors of "BIS 018" standard have to be installed. Apart from the 4,500-odd buses of the KSRTC, the speed governor have to be installed in 31,000-odd stage carriers and 75,000 - odd trucks plying in the State. The gadget as prescribed in the rules, is available in the range of Rs.15,500 to Rs.17,500.

With private bus, truck and other heavy vehicle operators up in arms against speed governors, the State Government is thinking of enacting a legislation to overcome the Supreme Court directive to install the gadgets.

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