How Kerala RTC Tackled Interstate Private Bus Owners’ Strike

The one-week strike of the Interstate Bus Owners Association (IBOA) in Kerala has come to an end, as the state government said it will ensure implementation of motor vehicle rules. A week-long strike from June 24 to July 1 was to protest against the imposition of steep fines by the Kerala Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) on private interstate buses that ply from and to the state.

Though the MVD has agreed to look into the fines being levied on the buses, the officials made it clear that the ‘Operation Night Riders’ will continue. 

Operation Night Riders has been introduced following a brutal assault on two engineering students, who were traveling from Alappuzha to Bangalore on April 20. Halfway through the journey, they were thrown from the bus by the employees of the private travel company named “Kallada Travels”. Kallada Travels, one of the biggest private interstate bus operators in South India, owns 130 buses.

Following the incident, a series of reports on how the private companies are flouting the rules have come into the public domain. Many people, through various mediums, have narrated the sorry tale of the misbehaviour of the interstate private bus operators. To control this lobby, the MVD had launched the “Operation Night Riders” to monitor the operations of interstate private buses as well as various ticket booking agencies.

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To stop the exploitation of the passengers, the MVD issued a notification to the companies to ensure speed governors and GPS in every long-distance bus from this month itself. Under the ‘Operation Night Riders’ initiative, at least 259 cases have been registered against the bus owners who were not following the rules in the state.

Around 320 buses that belong to various private operators ply from different parts of the state connecting the cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

However, soon after the IBOA Kerala gave a call for strike on June 24, the state-owned Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) declared that it will be plying more buses to ensure connectivity. With this move, it managed to bag Rs 45 lakh more than its usual collection in the last week.

“KSRTC had introduced more services and we changed the pattern of the online ticket booking in such a way that the booking of tickets for a bus service till midnight before the journey was reserved only for the passengers,” said Jojo TPM of KSRTC employees’ association.

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“Private buses are charging much higher than KSRTC. If you look at the fare for KSRTC’s AC Multi-axle buse journey from Ernakulam to Bengaluru, the rate is around Rs 1,000. While one of the private operators – Kallada Travels – charges around Rs 1,350 for the same route. Private buses earn money by carrying luggage and by picking and dropping passengers in between the journey. This is illegal according to the MVD,” he added.

While the state-owned-KSRTC, which has been making losses, has gained momentum in the recent times. The average revenue of KSRTC per kilometre in June 2018 was Rs 38. But it has increased significantly to Rs 42 per kilometre in June 2019. The total turnout for the month was about Rs 200 crore, which is Rs 56 lakh more than the previous month.

In the state, an average of 28.73 lakh people rely on KSRTC every day. As of now, KSRTC has a fleet of more than 5,000 buses with more than 32,000 permanent employees.

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