Private buses to go off the road from August 1

The operators of the 12,500 private stage carriers in the State has decided to withdraw the buses from the road from August 1 as it is not feasible to operate the services due to the poor patronage to services following the pandemic-induced lockdown.

The Joint Action Committee of the private bus operators, the apex body of the various associations of bus operators, informed the Transport Minister, A. K. Saseendran on Monday that they are withdrawing the services from Saturday, August 1, by submitting Form G to the concerned Regional Transport Officers (RTO).

An operator who submits Form G for the stage carrier and contract carriage that is not operating will not have to pay road tax. The operators can retain the permits and the government cannot take action against them. Insurance need not be paid if the bus has submitted Form G and has not plied for 60 days or more.

The sudden move comes in the wake of the government’s inaction on the demands of the private operators to provide high speed diesel (hsd) at subsidised rate or at reduced price and exemption from road tax during the pandemic period to continue with the bus operations after July 31.

The operators had also sought exemption from remitting the contribution of the workers and the bus owners in Kerala State Motorworkers Welfare Board in view of the poor revenue collection from the buses.

Lawerence Babu and T. Gopinathan, chairman and general convenor of the committee respectively, has informed the Transport Minister that not even 20 per cent of the private stage carriers are plying even after the fare hike of July 3 and that schedules are running with four to five commuters. “It is not practical to pay the hefty road tax and to run services without any revenue. We are suffering heavy loss daily and the revenue is not enough for the fuel bill”, they said.

The bus fares were hiked by the government from July 3 and it has not benefitted the operators as the patronage is less due to the spurt in pandemic, offices and educational institutions remaining closed and people afraid to travel in public transport, they said

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