Kerala - Kochi   

No new permits through old routes

KOCHI: The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has decided to stop issuing permits to private buses for routes through which a good number of buses already operate in the city.

This comes in the wake of complaints that too many buses operate through routes fixed decades ago, whereas most newly-built roads and bridges do not have adequate number of buses.

With the authority having no power to deny permits, it was till now forced to issue permits through the old but busier routes, for which there was great demand from bus owners.

While the new government notification allows existing permit holders to continue service, owners seeking fresh permits through 31 routes in the city would be denied the same.

“This has been done to prevent overlapping of routes, since at present buses from different places crowd the few arterial roads to reach the bus stand,” according to the Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer N. M. Sukumaran.

As of now, 653 private buses operate with city permit. Forty-seven more permits can be issued under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe category, taking the number of city permit buses to 700.But even these permits would be issued only in newer routes.

The KSRTC can operate more city services since 50 permits have been reserved for the corporation.

Buses are relatively fewer in routes such as Paravur-Vypeen-Ernakulam; Ernakulam-Panangad; Airport-Seaport Road; Vytilla-Vytilla circular route and Ernakulam-Kakkanad.

There is also need for more buses from West Kochi to Ernakulam.

The RTA also plans to weed out small buses that conduct service in many parts of the city.

Unlike the bigger buses that have a seating capacity of 48 (in which 23 more passengers are allowed to stand), smaller buses have just 25 to 40 seats.

Because of this, most of them are dangerously overloaded.

“With city permits being limited to 700 and the number of passengers increasing, we cannot afford to have small buses in place of big ones.

Bus owners prefer small buses so that they need to pay much lesser road tax.

They have to pay Rs. 600 per seat every three months. Which means a 25-seater bus pays around half the tax as that of a 48-seater one.

Moreover, two small buses would be needed to carry passengers who could be accommodated in a single big bus,” Mr Sukumaran said.

On the increasing demand from commuters to introduce more comfortable and low-platform buses (like the few Venad and Malabar series of buses being run by the KSRTC in the city), he said the State government would have to come out with specifications and a tax structure for such buses to be operated by the private sector.

As of now, the Kerala Motor Vehicles’ Rules have got the provision only for stage and contract carriers.

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