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After currency ban, KSRTC losing Rs 50 lakh a day

Last Updated 30 November 2016, 20:19 IST

Revenues of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) have taken a beating, post-demonetisation.

The two state-run transport corporations have recorded drastic drop in their ticket-fare revenues. While the daily ticket-fare revenue of the KSRTC has come down by a minimum of Rs 50 lakh, that of the BMTC has dropped by Rs 10 lakh on average.

According to sources in the KSRTC and the BMTC, the number of commuters has come down sharply as people are short of hard cash, particularly the small denomination notes. Besides, the state transport corporations do not have facilities for digital transactions on their buses. It is said that those travelling shorter distances are using their personal vehicles instead of depending on BMTC and KSRTC services.

For the KSRTC, the fall in its daily ticket-fare revenue is in the range of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 70 lakh. Rajender Kumar Kataria, KSRTC managing director said: “The corporation had earned a revenue of Rs 123 crore between November 9 and 25 in 2015, while the revenue generated in the corresponding period this year is Rs 115 crore.”

Kataria observed that there was a revenue loss of over Rs 8 crore this year. “The loss is about Rs 70 lakh every day. The ticket-fare revenue was Rs 5.87 lakh on November 10 this year. Normally, the KSRTC earns at least Rs 7 lakh on weekdays and around Rs 9 lakh during the weekend,” he said and added that the long-distance travels had come down. He said it would take another three to four months for the revenue generation to normalise.

The BMTC operates a fleet of 6,203 buses - ordinary and Volvo, in Bengaluru. The BMTC had earned Rs 75.12 crore by way of issuing daily pass and sale of tickets between November 1 and 26 last year. During the corresponding period this year, the ticket-fare revenue stood at Rs 72.84 crore, a drop of Rs 2.28 crore.

The figures show that the BMTC’s ordinary buses generated Rs 65.09 crore in the first 25 days of November last year, while the collection was Rs 63.81 crore this year. The corporation from its fleet of around 700 Volvo and Corona buses earned Rs 10.03 crore from November 1-26 in 2015 and Rs 9.03 crore this year. In all, there has been a drop of Rs 1.28 crore in its revenue from ordinary buses and Rs 1 crore from its Volvo and Corona buses since November 1, 2016.

Dr Ekroop Caur, managing director, BMTC said: “The passenger demand is getting back to normal now. There was a 50% dip in the beginning and it has reduced to 5% at the present.” Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd officials said currency ban had a minimal impact on Namma Metro, which sees average of 1.3 lakh ridership daily. “We could see a small reduction in the number of commuters. This is varying between 5,000 and  10,000,” an official said.

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(Published 30 November 2016, 20:19 IST)

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