Three days after the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) reduced the fares on its Mangalore (State Bank)-Manipal Volvo services, there has not been any considerable improvement in passenger patronage.
The corporation reduced the fares by Rs. 20 from Mangalore to Manipal, by Rs. 15 to Udupi, Rs. 10 to Kaup and Rs. 5 each to Padubidri, Mulky, NITK Guest House and Surathkal on September 15, to attract more passengers. The fare was as high as Rs. 95 to Manipal. KSRTC may take a relook on continuing the services if passenger patronage does not increase, after about a fortnight.
Senior Divisional Controller of KSRTC’s Mangalore Division G. Kempananjaiah told The Hindu that the earning per km, which was about Rs. 36 before reduction, has come down to about Rs. 30. The idea behind the reduction was to get more passengers thereby increasing the earnings. The cost per km has been about Rs. 50, he said.
Mr. Kempananjaiah said that the corporation introduced the air-conditioned services to enhance travel comfort even as the low-floor city bus model offered easy entry and exit to passengers, particularly women, the elderly and children. The fares need to be more than conventional high-floor buses which do not offer any frills, he said. The corporation may wait for some more time anticipating increased passenger patronage before taking any final decision, he said.
Consistent lossMeanwhile, sources in the corporation said that the services did not achieve break-even ever since their introduction in March 2010 and suffer approximately Rs. 1.5 lakh loss every month. The corporation revised operational timings to suit passenger demand and is now operating 25 round trips at a frequency of about 30 minutes — from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., they said.
One of the reasons for low patronage is said to be the malls and multiplexes that have come up in Udupi-Manipal region in the recent past. Earlier, the buses used to be packed with students from Manipal in the weekends, who used to frequent malls and multiplexes in Mangalore. The other obvious reason had been high fares, said Rajtilak Nayak, a regular commuter.
During the initial days, there had been appreciation for the service for their comfort and speed. It was also seen as an attempt to break the private bus monopoly on the Mangalore-Udupi-Manipal sector. However, frequent fare hikes by KSRTC due to diesel price hike appear to have dissuaded many passengers from opting for the service. On the other hand, private operators offer 30 per cent concession to regular commuters on express services whereas KSRTC offers only a concessional return-journey ticket on its Volvos.