Kochi: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) earned a record revenue collection of Rs 45.2 crore during the just-concluded Sabarimala pilgrimage season, as against Rs 15.2 crore in the previous season (2017-18).
The three-time increase in revenue is achieved with the corporation buses alone being allowed to conduct services in the 22-km Pamba-Nilakkal section as per a court order aimed at crowd control and decongestion. Even the pilgrims coming in their private vehicles had to depend on the KSRTC buses after parking their vehicles at Nilakkal.
"A revenue collection of Rs 31.2 crore alone was generated from the chain services operated in the Pamba-Nilakkal section during the three-month pilgrimage season. The corporation operated 153 buses, including 44 AC and 10 e-buses, regularly," said a senior official.
The corporation deployed 70 buses on long haul routes, achieving Rs 14 crore revenue collection. The corporation though operated 1000 buses on the Makaravilakku Day (January 14).
Unlike the previous occasions, this pilgrimage season saw KSRTC switching over to the QR code-based ticketing process in tie up with the Kerala Police.
Since the same was linked to the Virtual Queue system of the Kerala police, the authorities could use it as an effective crowd control measure.
Meanwhile, the corporation experimented electric buses during the three-month period and found the buses the most profitable compared to those with diesel engines. "While we incurred for Rs 31 per km to operate diesel buses, the expense for electric buses was only Rs five per km," he said.
The e-buses will now be deployed in the Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam section as high speed services with only five stops from the start of next month.
