Fuel price hike does not pinch Volvo users
Category :
City |
Posted Date :
15/07/2011
MANGALORE: Post June 25 hike in diesel prices, KSRTC hiked fares of various bus services by 6.95% on an average. While this move left commuters seeing red, this was not the case for passengers who use the Red Volvo city service operated by Mangalore division of KSRTC to two destinations, Manipal and Kasargod. Their blushes were spared as fares for Volvo services remained unchanged.
KSRTC head office in Bangalore rather than looking strictly at the bottomline of this popular service, deemed it prudent to focus on increasing occupancy by maintaining status quo on the existing fare. While a trip from Mangalore to Manipal on this Volvo city service is priced at Rs 65, it is Rs 60 each to Udupi and Kasargod respectively. As per Volvo city service chart rates, the fare to the two destinations should be around Rs 95 to Rs 100.
Last time KSRTC raised fare of city Volvo services was in June 2010 when it went up by Rs 5. Incidentally, this is the only increase in fare that this service has seen since it was launched simultaneously by district in-charge ministers of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts V S Acharya at Manipal, and J Krishna Palemar at SBI main branch terminus here on March 27, 2010. City Volvo service fare to Manipal from Mangalore was Rs 60 on its introduction.
A senior KSRTC official told TOI that the corporation could have looked at managing the bottomline either by increasing fare, which would have hit occupancy, or by maintaining status quo on fare and increase occupancy. "We chose to do the latter. The whole idea was to make the city service more attractive to people. Its main patrons are doctors and professionals who commute to and from Manipal daily," the official noted.
Observing that commuters prefer the Volvo city service for the pleasant travelling experience it provides, Yashwanth, in-charge divisional controller of Mangalore division said the low floor buses, which feature syncromesh gear and electronic control systems offer a smooth riding experience. While the operation of this service is on a break-even basis, not revising the fare is more to do with generating goodwill with commuters and to increase market share.
Canara Bus Operators Association (CBOA) that offers competition to KSRTC city Volvo on Udupi-Manipal sector however indicated that fares on its Canara Combine Transport, which offers concessions to daily commuters could go up if RTA approves its request for hike in fare. K Rajavarma Ballal, president, CBOA said revised fares on CCT buses would be pegged at 50% of fare approved by the RTA. Fare hike even for CCT is inevitable, he said.
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