Rising temperatures force KSRTC to cut afternoon trips

Kochi: In the last few days, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) management has been forced to cut afternoon trips in and around Ernakulam. The main reason for this is rising temperatures in the afternoon, forcing people to stay indoors, said authorities.KSRTC has been cutting eight trips from Ernakulam depot between 12 noon and 3pm everyday due to low passenger count. It has affected the daily collection of the debt-ridden KSRTC. On normal days, the daily collection at Ernakulam would be Rs 18-20 lakh. However, with the decline in passengers and trip cuts, it has come down to around Rs 16 lakh per day."We have been forced to cut eight bus trips, resulting in reducing services to around 300-400km per day, since temperatures started rising and people prefer remaining indoors in the afternoons. We normally conduct around 35 trips in the afternoon to various places. However, we cut trips in the afternoon, mostly to Thiruvalla and Kothad. We are rescheduling trips, without causing inconvenience to passengers," said a KSRTC official.But on Fridays and Mondays, we operate all the trips as people go to their houses on Fridays and return to their workplaces in Kochi on Mondays, he added.Since March is also college and school examination time, KSRTC authorities said that's another reason for declining passengers. Officials expect the number of passengers to increase by next month when vacations start.The trip cuts have reduced fuel consumption and maintenance expenses of the buses. Ernakulam depot has 111 buses, with 80-85 of them being operated everyday. Of the total buses, 50 vehicles operate in Ernakulam alone. The depot operates a total of around 200 daily trips, including long-distance ones. Around 60 local trips are operated everyday, mostly in the mornings and evenings. Generally, when the depot operates only its 20 ordinary buses, it incurs losses.The low passenger count has also affected the service of the double-decker bus, operating as part of budget tourism in the city. Currently, its service has been suspended for fitness test. "The service is not available for the last few days. We will resume the service by next month after the fitness certificate is received. By that time, vacation tourism season will also start. We were earlier forced to operate the service with just a few takers," said an official.