Tamil Nadu bleeds, but pvt buses tweak ops & earn

Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s state-owned transport corporations that ferry over 2 crore people every day, face huge amounts of debts while having run up losses of Rs 16,000 crore.

Buses, depots and buildings— everything that is owned by the corporations - have been mortgaged to banks and financial institutions, but the managements of the corporations are obstinate about not tweaking their strategies. They simply refuse to learn from private players.

One charge that most people involved in these corporations make is that there is “too much interference” from politicians, who block any periodical proposal to hike fares in order to reduce the burden on the transport agencies.

“Fares in state-owned buses are one of the lowest in the country. Whenever we try to increase the fares, political meddling hampers the process. Politicians are averse to hiking the fares since they think it would affect their vote bank”, an insider in the transport department told Deccan Chronicle.

According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) released recently, eight transport corporations accumulated Rs 16,145 crore of losses by the end of 2015-16, which is 19 per cent more than total at the end of the previous year. Of the total losses accumulated, the share of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), which serves Chennai and nearby districts, is Rs 2,502 crore.

Why do govt corpns lose money?

Though the eight transport corporations operate more than 21,000 intercity buses on a service basis, their very sustainability becomes susceptible. “The government, on an average, spends '28 per kilometer for operating a bus. But the revenue is just '22 per kilometre. We have to provide free service to the school students and others due to various schemes”, K. Natarajan, Treasurer, Labour Progressive Federation, said.

The transport corporations are also facing difficulties in getting their dues from other departments. “Sometimes, the corporations provide buses to other departments. In such cases, the concerned department should pay per day income of a particular bus. But many departments don’t. Our revenue is affected by this”, added Natarajan.

It has been six years since bus fares in the state were revised. With the fuel cost and operational costs increasing, the losses are building up. “Government bus fares are same as earlier when the diesel cost '41 per litre. With '21 surge in diesel price, the government is stubborn to raise fares owing to political reasons. In Karnataka, the bus fare is revised according to diesel prices”, Anbalagan said.

Lack of coordination between different corporations also adds to the issue as many buses operate to the same destination in quick successions. “Many buses are being operated at the same time. Because of this, many buses ply with unoccupied seats. The corporations should discuss with their counterparts before commencing operation in a particular route”, Natarajan said.

How do private players make money?

Private omnibus service providers, the go-to options for the majority of middle and upper middle-class passengers, have very different but effective ways for their operational sustainability on roads.

“We just do not totally depend on passenger transportation. We have arrangements with some courier and parcel services company to lessen our loss”, A. Anbalagan, General secretary, All Omnibus Owners and Operators Association told DC.

It is learnt that the maintenance of omni buses is more expensive when compared to the ones owned by the government. “We have to pay higher taxes for buying spare parts than the government is paying. As we own a small number of buses, it is easy to keep them in good condition. This helps us to draw more passengers. We spend Rs 75 per kilometre for the maintenance of the buses, while government corporations spend '55”, Anbalagan added.

He also said that during festive seasons omni bus owners would increase fares to some extent and at times the omni buses ply at a fare less than that of the government buses. “We are asking the government to fix fares for omni buses. The authorities are still mulling over it”, he said.