Soon, tourists hoping to visit popular destinations in and outside Kerala will be able to travel on high-end private tourist buses at fares on a par with the affordable ticket rates of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) as it has given permission to the KSRTC Budget Tourism Cell to hire private tourist buses on lease to hold services to tourist destinations.
The first service, a Malappuram-Munnar trip, was launched on Wednesday and this arrangement would be experimented on other routes if found feasible, said Jacob Sam Lopez, Chief Traffic Manager, Budget Tourism Cell, KSRTC.
As per the lease agreement, the private tourist bus would be made available for the KSRTC to operate services for 15 days a month. For non-A/C air buses, the lessor can charge ₹13 per km up to 500 km, ₹12.85 per km from 501-650 km and ₹12.60 for 651-800 km. The driver of the private bus would be paid ₹4 per km.
It is expected that the KSRTC could save a considerable amount of operational cost through this wet lease system as maintenance and other costs, including mechanical and ensuring the condition of the tyres, would be the responsibility of the lessor as per the agreement. The budget tourism cell, which started its operation in the State on 1 November, 2021, has netted a revenue of ₹4.5 crore till May 31 this year. It has held over 1,500 services to around 200 destinations mainly inside the State so far. It operates around 70-75 services per week based on demand, according to officials.
The demand is high for the services to Malakkappara in Thrissur from various parts of the State, followed by Munnar, Munroe Thuruthu and Sambranikodi. Since these buses hold services based on demand and with a full passenger load factor, the profit margin of the budget tourism cell is significantly high compared to the normal passenger buses of the KSRTC.
With the introduction of private tourist buses on contract, a win-win situation for both the crisis-hit private tourist bus operators and the KSRTC, the tourism cell of the corporation is hoping to laugh all the way to the bank by the end of this fiscal.
