The introduction of a new bus body code, AIS 052, from January 1 has hit the registration of new private buses in the State.
Most Regional Transport Offices (RTO) offices have not registered new buses this year as only a body-building firm in Kottayam qualified for accreditation by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune.
The registration of 57 buses has been hit and no new bus has been registered in Kochi since October 2017 when the code took effect, a Motor Vehicles’ Department official said.
The code specified by the Centre to standardise quality and safety features is likely to impact 300-odd small and medium bus-body builders in Kerala.
The government and the Transport Commissionerate have written to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) after bus owners sought exemption for the 57 buses built by other firms.
“The new code took effect on October 1. Though its implementation was extended till January 1, buses built in small and medium firms (in second half of 2017) were unable to register,” said K. Padmakumar, Transport Commissioner.
He said the new code was being implemented to bring about qualitative improvement in public transport buses.
Moreover, structural defects were cited as reasons for many accidents.
Cost increase
“The new code will increase the cost of body building by ₹Rs 3 lakh a bus. The cost of chassis has increased from ₹13.50 lakh in 2014 to ₹21.50 lakh now and we have found the going tough,” said T. Gopinathan, general secretary of the All Kerala Bus Operators’ Organisation.
“The number of private buses in Kerala is down from 26,000 in 2008 to 14,000 in 2018, due to increase in operational costs. With only a single firm qualifying for the AIS 052 Code in Kerala, replacement of old buses with new ones will suffer huge delay.”
Tough norms
“The new code has fixed specifications in area needed for a body-building firm, equipment to be used, arrangements of seats and other components, build quality, and paint booth, etc. Each firm must also send bus body of different types for crash and others tests to the ARAI. Only if it passes the tests can it make bus body of a similar specification,” said M.N. Prabhakaran, former Deputy Transport Commissioner, who is Joint Director of Institute of Driver Training and Research, Edapal, Malappuram.
