On the 37th anniversary of the Kadamba Transport Corporation, Transport Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar said that the government is exploring the possibility of how the existing bus stands in the State could be converted into bus ports. By bus ports, he gave the audience to understand that the terminals would be state-of-the-art premises that would have facilities that one has at airports. The funds for this, he said, could come from the Centre and he expects this to happen in about five years from now.
There can be no argument on whether the bus stands of Goa need a makeover. Anybody who has visited the Panjim, Margao, Mapusa, Vasco bus stands will be gladdened at the words of the Transport Minister. The Margao bus stand for instance, is a temporary shed, which over the years for want of a better bus stand has turned permanent.
However, the feasibility of a project such as the one that the Transport Minister is talking about, needs to be also taken into account. A detailed project report has been sought by the government before undertaking this bus port plan, but even before that can we begin by looking at some immediate changes in the bus stands of the State and in the KTC buses?
In that, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was more pragmatic in his statements, and he pointed out that the Corporation has to make changes and be innovative if it is to increase revenue. Proper planning, he said, is the key and promised to help financially. Taking it further he suggested that the buses can have dustbins as part of the Swachh Bharat drive. That would be a start in giving passengers a ride on clean buses, and also having clean bus stands and bus stops, but there is much more that KTC has to do, to take its performance to a higher level.
For starters, KTC has to look at turning its accumulated losses into profits. For that it has to run like a corporate entity, shedding the government owned image and frame of mind that reins it in from turning professional unit. The Corporation is one of the few government entities that has to compete on a daily basis with private operators, and if these businesses can run into profits, surely KTC also can. The key is realising that while this is a service that KTC is providing, it should also display business acumen in its dealings.
According to statistics available, in 2015-16 it had 565 buses, with 361 on the road giving a fleet utilization of 63.89 percent. Such statistics may be acceptable in government run entities, but would not be acceptable in any corporate. Even its vehicle efficiency, that is average kilometers per bus per day has dropped in the last five years. It was 269.22 in 2011-12 and had fallen to 234.15 in 2015-16 for its on road fleet, but has been seeing an increasing load factor (known also as occupancy rate in the hotel industry), that indicates that more people are using the KTC services.
If that is taken as a preference by commuters for KTC over private buses, than the transport corporation has to wrest the initiative and give commuters the best service possible. Kadamba Transport Corporation, when it was introduced in 1980, came as a boon to the commuter. It has provided a much-needed service, but has not succeeded in drastically improving the transport system in the State. Here it still lags behind, as private operators step in to provide facilities that KTC does not. The transport corporation has to therefore step up to the new challenges, while ensuring that the basics of cleanliness, time and efficiency are maintained.
