ST will decide maxicab routes

MUMBAI, JULY 2: In a move to placate the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation MSRTC, the state government will allow the corporation...

MUMBAI, JULY 2: In a move to placate the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation MSRTC, the state government will allow the corporation to decide the routes for the 5000 maxicabs which will shortly start plying across the state.

This decision, meant to pacify the MSRTC which said it hadn8217;t been consulted over the introduction of maxicabs, was announced by state transport minister Gajanan Kirtikar at a meeting on Wednesday. He assured state transport authorities that a final decision on routes would be taken only in concurrence with the MSRTC.

8220;This decision puts things in our favour,8221; Chandrakant Vaidya, Vice Chairman of the MSRTC told Express Newsline. 8220;If we leave loss making routes to maxicabs, we can redeploy some 5000 more buses on the highways.8221;

Maxicabs could be assigned routes in traditional loss-making sectors of the MSRTC, C8217; routes in ST parlance. A and B are the break-even or minor profit making routes, he said.

The ST today runs city transport services in 28 towns and cities in Maharashtra, where it loses nearly Rs 90 crore annually. These heavy loss making routes include Kalyan, Dombivli, Nashik, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nanded, Sangli, Miraj, Satara, Ratnagiri, Dhule, Jalgaon and Akola.

These services are run by the BEST in Mumbai. 8220;But since it is a loss making operation, none of the civic bodies in these towns and cities are willing to start bus services,8221; Vaidya said. Attempts to persuade these corporations to start city services, even by providing old ST buses, had failed, Vaidya disclosed.

The ST has a fleet of 16,500 buses. However, even these are insufficient. Vaidya said that one of the major reasons for irregular services had been the shortage of buses, he said. With maxicabs in these towns and buses on highways, the ST could directly compete with the illegal private bus operators who carry some 25 to 30 lakh passengers daily. This eats into the ST8217;s load of nearly 75 lakh daily passengers.

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The 12-seat maxicabs will also be allowed on short routes from railway stations in rural areas to villages, added Vaidya.

The corporation makes a daily loss of between Rs 45 and 50 lakh which steadily adds to its already crippling accumulated losses of over Rs 800 crore. These losses were due to the rapid increase in fuel costs, staff wages and spare parts further compounded by low ticket prices and some 28 different concessions. The government gives the ST remissions for only seven of these categories. 8220;We are a public service not expecting profits,8221; Vaidya added.

The MSRTC has now requested the government to consider reducing its passenger tax to 15.5 per cent from the existing 17.5 per cent.