Karnataka government speeds up the plan to lease 2,000 buses

Bengaluru: The government has been prompted to speed up its move to lease buses as the transport strike ended on Wednesday.

A senior transport department official said, “This strike has taught us a lesson that relying only on transport employees may cripple bus operations. We have decided not to purchase any more buses, and instead opt for the lease model. The model is economically viable and services will not be affected due to any strike by employees. It will be the responsibility of the private operator to run buses.”

According to the sources, many private bus operators who were roped in by the department during the transport strike put pressure on the government to lift the monopoly of State Transport Undertakings on nationalised routes. For example, in Bengaluru, stage carriage permit is BMTC’s only right and no private elevators are allowed to pick up and drop commuters from multiple points on a particular route.

But, the transport department said that no such decision has been taken on removing the monopoly of STUs and stated that private players could participate in the tenders for lease models.

Transport department officials affirmed that more than 2,000 buses will be inducted under the lease model for four STUs by the year-end. The STUs will give them routes and pay the selected firms on a per km basis. The STUs will provide conductors for ticket collection. The selected firm will see to the operation, maintenance of buses and deploy bus drivers.

BMTC will get 1,890 buses. Out of these, the first batch of 90 non-AC electric midi buses will be on the roads by this June. Apart from this, the corporation has floated a tender to lease 1,500 non-AC diesel buses. A BMTC official said, “We have extended the last date of submission of bids till May 11 due to Covid-19. It will be finalised by the end of May.”

Also, BMTC will include 300 electric buses under Centre’s FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles). This is the fifth tender lease due to the poor response in the early bids.

An official said, “Five firms- TATA Motors, Ashok Leyland, Veera Vahana, Olectra Greentech Ltd and JBM have participated in the fifth tender. We are yet to open financial bids. The deadline for FAME-II is by this month-end. But we have sought an extension due to Covid-19 and the strike. We are planning to issue a work order by June.”

Under the lease model, conductors will be appointed by the STUs. When asked about the strike by conductors, an official said, “We are thinking of installing ticket validators for automated fare collection. We are in the process of introducing smart cards. Validators will be installed so that passengers can themselves swipe the cards.”

He added, “We will also allow private companies to collect fares and then deposit with STUs if the conductors go on strike.”

BMTC employees have been against the move to lease buses as they fear that this could be a part of privatisation plan.