Private bus operators in Mangalore pin their hopes on reforms

Private transport operators of this ‘bus city’ feel that they should get routes along with KSRTC on a 50:50 ratio.

The National Transport  Development Council (NTDC), which met in Delhi recently, received a memorandum from the Karnataka State Bus Owners Federation.

 The federation president, Rajavarma Ballal, who returned from Delhi on Sunday, said the council might go in for reforms which would    include changes in public-private participation in public transport.

All over the country, public transport corporations, except KSRTC, are finding it an uphill task to keep their operations profitable. This is unique because the KSRTC fleet is young.  But once the  fleet becomes old, the corporation will have a problem at hand. Hence, private bus operators have asked the council to consider allotment of 50% of the routes to them with provision also for public-private participation, Ballal said.
 

This will end the monopolistic or oligopolistic (two operators) run of the state-owned transport corporations, he said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, KSRTC Employees Union members said that sometimes they wished there was competition on 50:50 ratio from private operators.

They said the top brass of the KSRTC and  political masters were treating the corporation as their private property.

“We don’t know when the whole thing will start crumbling,” they said.
 
NTDC sources said that in the days to come, the Indian Motor Vehicles Act would undergo drastic changes giving more leeway for ‘other operators’ to invest in the transport business.
They may be able to create their own infrastructure like bus terminus, enjoy a common toll and tax structure and a ‘free investment’ atmosphere in the transport sector.