Riding high on the recently inducted electric buses, the city circular bus service of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has started registering profit. According to the transport utility, the KSRTC could raise a monthly profit of around ₹40 lakh from the service in August and September this year, for the first time since its launch in Thiruvananthapuram on November 29, 2021.
This is mainly due to the induction of electric buses along the circular routes, which mainly cater to passengers within the city. The city circular services link government offices, hospitals, shopping centres, and other major institutions in the city.
The ridership on the buses too registered an increase. If the daily ridership was around 4,000 passengers in the city circular buses (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) diesel buses) in the beginning, it rose to around 34,000 now and the transport utility is eyeing to achieve the 50,000 mark during this financial year itself, according to the office of KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director Biju Prabhakar.
As many as 25 electric buses have been pressed into service in the city since August 1. The average revenue of electric buses per kilometre is ₹35 while the expense is ₹23, which includes electricity charge and salary of the crew. On the other hand, the expense per kilometre for diesel buses is ₹74 while the revenue is ₹35. The Corporation could save ₹28 lakh and ₹32 lakh in diesel expenses in August and September respectively when the diesel buses were replaced with electric ones.
Further, since the electric buses come under the new KSRTC-SWIFT platform, the salary expense is around ₹12 lakh lesser than that of the KSRTC employees. As the electric buses have a two-year warranty, there is no oil change or other costs, helping the Corporation save ₹1.8 lakh a month for 25 buses.
An electric bus cost around ₹92.43 lakh for the Corporation when it was purchased and now the Corporation is planning to increase the number of electric buses to 50 in phases. Five more buses will join the fleet in November.
