Any sane individual would readily agree that the State requires better public transport facilities, especially the last mile connectivity which has been missing and long overdue. In Goa, for a population of 16 lakh, the KTC with a fleet of 548 buses, including shuttle mini buses, and the latest addition of electric buses, provides services on 304 routes. However, some of these buses are also operating during the morning and afternoon hours to ferry students from schools.
A known visible fact about the KTCL buses is that most of them are literally crying for attention and maintenance. Though the KTCL does not have any vehicle on the road which is older than 15 years, the KTCL Chairman recently acknowledged that a quarter of the existing fleet of the corporation has surpassed the kilometre usage of 15 years within just eight years of their purchase and hence will have to be scrapped.
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The KTCL was assured that it would be permitted and provided with financial assistance before the end of the current financial year, to purchase at least 50 new diesel buses and another 25 electric buses. Despite great efforts, the new-age electric and alternative fuel buses cannot be operated due to the unavailability of charging and refuelling facilities on routes other than Panjim, Margao and Vasco. Hence, KTCL will need more diesel buses only to keep up its current operations on the designated routes.
However, the biggest concern of all over the decades has been the financial stability of the corporation itself. In the last decade, KTCL has attracted more than Rs 120 crore in losses. As of date, even the salaries of the KTCL staff, which is to the tune of Rs 9 crore, are being facilitated by the government. Experts opine that KTC intends to do away with competition from the private bus operators but the huge losses due to salary cost, regulated fare and operation in social obligatory routes will continue to persist.
Therefore, while the idea of taking over the privately owned buses or designing a policy to operate these buses in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode is attractive, however, the operational feasibility presents a scary picture wherein the government is bound to further deepen the holes to the exchequer. The Goa government after introducing the pass system had assured agitated private bus owners through the High Court that a diesel subsidy will be provided to them. However, since 2018 private bus owners have been persistently following up with the government to clear the pending subsidy dues.
Therefore, there are bound to be some pertinent questions that the government will have to address before expecting the private bus owners to come on board, and streamline not just the public transport facilities but also the financial status of the corporation. Most of the private buses are hypothecated to the banks, and with pending loans, the government will have to consider the terms and conditions of the bus owners before being able to take over these buses. Simultaneously, while there is not much of a disparity in the salary drawn and taken home by the private and KTCL bus drivers and attendants, the other perks and benefits that the corporation employees enjoy will further burden the KTCL while providing the same to the private employees.
So, the real question is whether a public corporation that has been reeling under huge losses for years will announce its death by trying to be ostentatious.
