THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSRTC is dusting off the old minibus project that incurred heavy losses and was abandoned midway. 400 minibuses will be purchased using Rs 95 crore in the plan fund. A tender for this will be called soon.

AC and non-AC buses will be bought. The plan is to operate AC buses as premium superfast. The 10-meter-long bus will have 32 seats. There will also be surveillance cameras, LED TV and music system. The action is under the direction of the department minister KB Ganesh Kumar.

The purchase of minibuses started in 2001-03 when Ganesh Kumar was the Transport Minister. The audit department had found an irregularity of Rs 47 lakh in the first year itself. Controversy also raised its head with that. First 100 buses and then 350 buses were purchased. KSRTC's top brass are worried about how successful minibuses will be when they run as superfast buses but remain silent. Minibuses are going to be operated as superfast buses while larger buses are needed for comfortable long journeys.

Sold at scrap price

The minibuses were abandoned by the passengers earlier due to the small size of the bus and the uncomfortable ride. While regular buses run for 15 years without any problem, the mini bus broke down before crossing the 10-year mark. The annual maintenance cost was around four crore rupees. Buses were auctioned and sold without any other option. The price of one bus was 12 lakh rupees but it was sold for fifty thousand rupees.

More profit

A mini bus is now priced between 23 to 25 lakh rupees. KSRTC officials say that there will be an increase in income when minibuses run as premium superfast. Not all superfast buses are full of passengers. Premium service rates are higher and therefore collections will be higher. Cylinder buses are also more fuel efficient. The management also claims that what happened when the minibus was bought earlier will not happen again.