A Government Order in this regard is awaited in a week; Till 2017, only buses that were five years old or lesser were permitted to operate as super-fast and other super-class buses
A Government Order in this regard is awaited in a week; Till 2017, only buses that were five years old or lesser were permitted to operate as super-fast and other super-class buses
The acute shortage of super-class buses in KSRTC has resulted in a tentative decision being taken to yet again extend the life span of the existing fleet of such buses from nine years to ten years.
A Government Order in this regard is awaited in a week. Till 2017, only buses that were five years old or lesser were permitted to operate as super-fast and other super-class buses. This was further extended to seven years, and by yet another two years to nine years in 2021.
Trade union opposition
Highly-placed sources in KSRTC said the decision to further extend the time span for super-class buses to 10 years was prompted by the cash-strapped agency’s inability to induct super-class buses since 2017. “We have no other option now. Our efforts to hire such buses on dry lease were futile, due to opposition from a few trade unions. They were also opposed to leasing such buses for KSRTC’s budget-tourism services.”
This resulted in firms, which had offered their buses on dry lease – at first on a trial basis for budget-tourism trips, and later on for super-class services, withdrawing from the fray. The present stalemate due to acute shortage of super-class buses will hopefully be overcome by June 2023, when 500 new buses are expected to join KSRTC’s fleet, he added.
As per existing norms, super-class buses older than nine years are deployed as ordinary or city-service buses.
Regular maintenance
The decision met with mixed response from experts. The head of the Automobile Engineering Department of SCMS, Kochi, Manoj Kumar B, said buses aged up to 20 years could operate as stage-carriage services. “But emphasis must be given to preventive maintenance and regular inspection, especially of super-class buses since they operate long trips. The KSRTC could even think of outsourcing their maintenance. On their part, MVD officials must frequently do a thorough inspection of such buses, and not confine it to the annual fitness test alone,” he said.
Another expert in the field, who is familiar with the maintenance regimen of multiple State Transport Undertakings (STUs) in the country, cautioned against super-class buses meeting the same fate as KSRTC’s low-floor AC and non-AC buses which had to be sold as scrap earlier this year due to shoddy upkeep. “The KSRTC relies on archaic and crude practices to maintain its fleet and the condition of most of its workshops is horrendous. It must learn from Karnataka State RTC, which has modernised its workshops and also has strict norms to ensure the upkeep of buses and their fuel efficiency. This is evident from the fact that a few of their AC-long-distance buses are in very good condition, despite being 15 years old.”
