TU contradicts FM’s claim of Rs 59/km loss from buses

K Arumuga Nainar, general secretary of the CITU-affiliated Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) Workers Union, said that the finance minister mentioned that cost per kilometre incurred by all the STUs works out to Rs 96.75 as of now, whereas the recovery of STUs is just 37.60 per km, leading to a loss of Rs 59.15 per km.

“The officials have given incorrect data to the minister. The cost per kilometre of a bus would be from Rs 60 to Rs 62 while the revenue was Rs 37 per km. The loss per km varies from Rs 18 to Rs 20 per km. The operation cost might have increased by Rs one or two due to the diesel price hike but it did not reach Rs 96 per km. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the revenue was less owing fall in the passengers' patronage, ” he said.

The corporation was incurring loss due to operations of the town buses for the benefit of the public, he said, adding that a long-distance bus operated from Chennai to Trichy would get a collection of Rs 20,000 from 50 passengers travelling for a distance of 300 km while a town bus running for a 300 km in two shifts would not get more than Rs 7000 to Rs 8000 carrying 700 passengers. “Town buses were being operated for the benefit of the public without bothering about profits with low fares. The government should support the transport corporations with budgetary allocation for the loss incurred for operating the services, ” he demanded.

Nainar noted that the fare revision in 2018 led to a steep decline in the passenger's patronage. “About 60 lakh passengers stopped taking the daily ride on the corporation buses after the fare hike. This also led to the fall in the revenue too, ” he pointed out.