Giving a huge impetus to efforts of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) to popularise feeder services for the metro, over 250 private buses in the city are likely to be Kochi -1 card ready, the pre-paid card for metro commuters, next month.
Steps are being taken to install card swipe machines in these buses, organised under two societies formed to streamline private bus services in the city in sync with metro services.
A technical support team from Axis Bank, which had brought out the pre-paid card, had been to Mumbai recently to familiarise themselves with the technicalities involved in making the card compatible for charging bus fares.
“For instance, different fares are involved like the minimum fare and the progressive hike in fares after every 2.50 km in the usage of feeder services. As such, these changes will have to be embedded in the software for the system to work seamlessly,” said a Kochi metro official. Initially, Kochi-1 card-compatible machines will be installed in over 250 buses after which they will be gradually extended to nearly 900 buses under seven societies or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) companies. All bus operators have accepted in-principle to adopt the system, the official added.
Meanwhile, KMRL is in the process of bringing all the seven societies and LLPs under a single umbrella organisation to improve the efficacy of the system. “Unless that is done, the unhealthy competition prevalent among bus operators of different societies and LLPs cannot be completely done away with,” said the official.
While 70% of bus operators are open to the idea, the rest are indecisive. Nevertheless, they admit that coming together under societies and LLPs has been beneficial in bringing down operational costs. For instance, one society had recently distributed its savings in excess of ₹1 lakh by way of discount on collective purchase of fuel among its members.
Similarly, around ₹1,500 is saved by individual bus operators on tyre retreading through their collective bargaining power. KMRL is now trying to stitch up arrangements with tyre companies, extending the benefit to purchase of new tyres as well.
