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Last month, during the launch of the Shakti scheme that provides women with free travel on public transport buses, there were fears about the scheme causing loss of revenue to the government, transport corporations, economy and so on. However, the overall revenue of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has shot up since.
“April and May are considered to be high-income months because of increased demand from families travelling with their children during the two-month summer break for schools or colleges. June is regarded as a low-income month as demand reduces with the opening of schools and colleges,” said V Anbukumar, MD of KSRTC.
The corporation’s total earnings in April and May this year were 9.4% and 11.2% more than the income in the same months last year. But against all perceived odds, KSRTC recorded a 19.2% year-on-year growth in June revenue.
The corporation has attributed this financial success to the Shakti scheme which has encouraged more people to travel since it was launched on June 11.
“We are currently operating 50-60 trips per day on a trial-demand basis at T2. As passengers are increasing in T2, we are planning to increase more trips via T2. We have deployed our staff to monitor the demand at each terminal. Buses running from T1 will be extended to T2. The buses will run trips to drop passengers from both terminals from the airport to the city,” said a senior BMTC official.
“Karnataka residents are using the scheme to visit temples, tourist spots, fairs and large markets,” Anbukumar said. This has even transformed the dull working days of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday into the busiest time of the week. “Public holidays and weekends, which used to be slow days for us, have become extremely busy. We’re so occupied during that period now that we’ve started deploying more officers and staff at depots to manage the crowds,” he said. June fetched KSRTC a revenue of INR 325.8 crore, only INR 11 crore less than the INR 336.6 crore generated in May, which the utility considers its busiest month usually. The ‘zero’ tickets issued to Shakti’s women beneficiaries on KSRTC buses in June totalled INR 92.7 crore, and this amount is expected to be reimbursed to the utility by the state government.
Premium a pinch lower
Barring luxury and premium services, Shakti scheme is applicable to all transport corporation buses within the state. The KSRTC’s Rajahamsa, Airavat, Airavat Club Class, Ambari, Ambari Sleeper (AC and non-AC), EV Power Plus, Flybus, Dream Class and Ambari Utsava are not open for free travel for women under the Shakti scheme.
Premium buses mostly run on advance bookings and offer inter-state services. Bookings on KSRTC’s premium services fell year-on-year by 10% in June. Nevertheless, the utility’s brass considers this a marginal decrease that is not concerning. In fact, revenue from premium services increased year-on-year by 2.2% in June this year. This could be attributed to spot bookings or passengers picked up along the route.
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