The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which started implementing route rationalisation in Thiruvananthapuram, has extended the process to Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, where it could save ₹1.90 lakh and ₹1.75 lakh per day, respectively. In two districts, a total of ₹3.66 lakh could be saved per day by eliminating dead kilometres – which is the distance covered by a bus without passengers.
The route rationalisation began after K.B. Ganesh Kumar took charge as Transport Minister. Buoyed by the response from Thiruvananthapuram, the minister extended the rationalisation to other districts. In Kollam and Pathanamthitta, as many as 12,796 km were found to be dead km. By eliminating this, the public utility could save 3,311.45 litres of diesel. Further, ancillary costs of ₹4 per km for spare parts and materials could be saved, saving a total of ₹51,182 in this category.
By saving ₹3.66 lakh per day, the total amount to be saved in a month would be ₹1.09 crore in these two districts. Though dead kilometres are avoided, not a single service operated in hilly, tribal, plantation, coastal, and colony areas has been cancelled, said the office of the minister in a release here on Saturday. The monthly profit from implementing the route rationalisation in Thiruvananthapuram is pegged at ₹98 lakh. The public utility is poised to save a total of ₹.2.08 crore per month by implementing the process in three districts, according to the release.
