THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A large number of private bus owners in Kerala are going through a severe crisis. After fuel costs, maintenance and salaries of employees, what reaches the pockets is a meagre income. Another crisis is passengers using their own vehicles and KSRTC operating on more routes. It would not be wrong to say that it is impossible to fight all this and move forward with profits.

Bus owners say they can only survive if they reduce the cost and increase the revenue. The first thing the bus owners are doing for this purpose is to stop the practice of buying new buses. Instead, the latest strategy is to buy old buses from Rajasthan and carry out maintenance and service. This is because a new bus is allowed to operate in Rajasthan for only eight years.

Rajasthan buses, which do not have much problems, are being brought to Kerala at half the price of the new buses. Rajasthan buses will be able to operate in Kerala for another seven years. The most important reason is that the bus owners have to pay only half the price of buying a new bus. The bus owners will be able to make profits and get back their investments by running the service for seven years through this. People transporting buses from Rajasthan are also getting active.

If a new bus is to be introduced on Kerala roads, it will cost up to Rs 50 lakh. The cost of making the body is over Rs 12 lakh. When the insurance and the rest of the expenses are added up, it becomes a huge amount. However, buses from Rajasthan, which are over eight years old, are priced only at one-third of this. Even after the bodywork is over, the cost will be in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.