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.
