KMT fare cut may be okayed soon

KOLHAPUR: The regional transport authority is likely to approve the proposal of the Kolhapur Municipal Transport (KMT) to reduce bus fares by Re 1 for every two km soon.
In June last year, the KMT had prepared the proposal to reduce ticket rates as well as the charges of periodic passes issued to the commuters. The proposal was sent to the regional transport authority (RTA) which constitutes the district collector as its chairman, regional transport officer as its secretary and superintendent of police as its member.According to the civic officials, the proposal has been referred to the district collector and waiting for final approval.
At present, the KMT charges Rs 8 for the first stage which will be reduced to Rs 7. Progressively, for every next two km, the charges will be reduced by Re 1. The charges for daily pass will be cut down from Rs 45 to Rs 35. The rates of monthly passes will also be reduced accordingly.
The proposal is aimed at wooing the passengers and reducing traffic congestion caused due to use of private vehicles. At present, around 1 lakh citizens resort to KMT buses. According to KMT officials, the number is expected to go up by around 15% after the ticket charges are reduced.
Sanjay Bhosale, additional manager of KMT, said, "Last time, the ticket charges were increased in January 2014 owing to increase in fuel prices. However, the increase affected the revenue badly as the number of passengers using KMT buses decreased by around 10%. Since the last one year, diesel prices have reduced and it won't account for any losses if the ticket charges are reduced."
The KMT is facing significant losses every day due to illegal mode of parallel transport on the city roads. It is also taking away the passengers of the transport body. Despite repeated attempts both by the civic administration and the police to act against such illegal operators, the KMC's revenue has not increased. At present, the KMT rakes in Rs 8.5 lakh every day through tickets, which was around Rs 9.5 lakh earlier.
The decrease in revenue was due to the KMT providing bus services to nearby fringe villages, officials said. "We have cancelled most of the trips to nearby villages, since the revenue was very less. At present, the revenue is collected from the buses plying exclusively on the city roads. There is potential to increase passenger strength through various measures," Bhosale said.
The initiative to reduce ticket rates and increase the number of passengers is seen as preparations to make the project of new buses financially viable. The KMT will induct 104 new buses to its existing fleet of 106 buses. If the passenger strength is not increased, the project of inducting new buses might prove to be a failure, officials said.
Meanwhile, civic activists said that public transport should not be looked as a money-minting business. Instead, it should be disciplined for comfortable commuting.
Subhash Vohra, president of Kolhapur Jan Shakti Union, said, "The belief that reduction in ticket charges will help the KMT increase its passenger strength is false. Today, the passengers need timely and quality service on which the KMT has been a failure. Besides, it can't be said that the new buses will help rake in significant revenue for the KMT since the expenses on maintenance and staff will also be huge. The KMT should rework its schedule of buses and appoint skilled workforce to make the services easy accessible."