Even as the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is making sustained efforts to operate city buses in southern parts of the state (non-nationalised routes), private operators who are dominating these markets seek a level-playing field in the nationalised sector.
“If KSRTC wants a level-playing field in Mangalore, Udupi, Shimoga, etc., we too want a level-playing field in Bangalore, Hassan, Mysore and other nationalised routes,” said Rajavarma Ballal, president of Karnataka State Private Bus Owners Federation. While private operators make a living despite paying hefty road taxes on the basis of number of seats, KSRTC and its sister concerns incur losses even after paying just five per cent of their revenue as taxes, he pointed out.
Mr. Ballal wondered why KSRTC intends to enter areas serviced well by private operators, instead of improving travel conditions on the nationalised routes. Rural bus services across the State where RTCs had a monopoly were in a pathetic condition, driving people towards maxi cabs, tractors, jeeps, tum-tums, he said. Despite enjoying complete tax holiday, the North East Karnataka RTC was running in loss, he said.
D.K. Bus Operators Association general secretary V.K. Puthran said private operators had no objection for issue of permits to KSRTC to run city services. But let the regional transport authority clear the 450-odd applications for permits by private operators in Mangalore alone for city services on seniority-basis, he said. The District Magistrate Notification of 1993 and 2013, ceiling the number of buses entering to State Bank area in Mangalore was binding on all, he claimed.
Huge demandOn the other hand, KSRTC and activists claim that bus services in privately held markets have not increased commensurate with population growth. Mangalore-based social activist G. Hanumanth Kamath said people were forced to travel in jam-packed buses as private operators were preventing entry of new buses, including those from KSRTC, despite steep increase in the population.
The DM Notifications often cited by private operators do not apply to KSRTC, he said, adding that the district administration then should restrict entry of contract carriage buses and other kinds of vehicles into the central parts of the city.
Social responsibilityA senior KSRTC official maintained that the RTCs were well equipped to provide services to passengers’ satisfaction. Areas serviced by private buses needed more buses and hence the corporation had stepped in, he said. At the same time, RTCs had been creating social infrastructure, including bus stations and other facilities, which private operators would not do, he said.
