KSRTC to refit old buses instead of buying new ones

BENGALURU: The Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) which was already facing losses, is now bearing increased burden after the implementation of the Shakti free travel scheme for women and the number of women passengers increasing.

The transport corporation, which was planning to purchase new buses, which would increase its burden, has now come up with a new plan to minimise the cost.

The KSRTC is already operating over 7,000 buses across the state. However, the number of passengers has increased since the implementation of the Shakti Yojana and thus, there is a shortage in the number of buses. In order to increase the fleet size, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said a few days ago that there is plan to purchase a total of 4,000 buses.

But, considering the financial implication, the KSRTC has now planned to revamp old buses which have run 10 to 11 lakh kilometres.

Managing director of KSRTC, V Anbukumar, elaborating on the plan, said, “It will cost approximately Rs 40 lakh to buy a new bus, but it costs only Rs 3 lakh on revamping an old bus. If we go with this plan, the corporation will save at least Rs 37 lakh per vehicle. According to the regulations of the Central government, the durability of a government vehicle is 15 years. However, buses are scrapped after 10 years. The refurbished buses can run for the another five years and about 494 buses have already been refitted and another 500 are in the pipeline”.