BMTC’s Volvo buses enter profit era

After incurring losses of Rs55 crore in four years, air-conditioned Volvo buses operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) have started making profits, according to deputy chief minister R Ashoka.

The corporation, which has 567 air-conditioned buses in its fleet, introduced the service in January 2006 with 25 buses, mainly running on routes connected to ITPL and Electronics City. In the first year, BMTC incurred a loss of Rs2.71 crore and losses went up to Rs32 crore in 2009-10 as a number of buses in the fleet was increased. However, in 2010-11, the corporation managed to post a profit of Rs4 crore and in 2011-12, the profit went up to Rs14 crore.

Reacting to a question on the floor of the legislative council, Ashoka said: “All the air-conditioned buses are making profits while ordinary buses are recording losses. Keeping in mind the requirement of the people, we are increasing the number ordinary buses; in the existing fleet, 95% of buses are ordinary buses.”

The minister said that the separate division established by the BMTC for operating Volvo buses yielded good results, adding that BMTC buses connecting IT corridors such as Electronics City and ITPB are eliciting encouraging response from commuters.

Airavat Bliss to ply in Bangalore-Mumbai route Reacting to demands by MLCs that KSRTC should operate recently inducted Volvo buses—with facilities such as chemical toilet, pantry, Wi-Fi connectivity and individual TV panels—in long-distance routes, the minister said KSRTC would induct more buses into the existing fleet and operate them in long-distance routes.

On July 18, KSRTC launched six Airavat Bliss buses in Bangalore-Chennai and Bangalore-Tirupati routes.