All private buses will sport three off-white lines just above the floor. Kannur: The privately owned buses in Kerala that are wildly painted has just got a coat of discipline. All privately owned buses would need to conform to a new color code to obtain or renew permits from the state transport department from April 1.
City buses have been assigned green and rural services blue. Limited-stop buses will have a maroon coat. All private buses will sport three off-white lines just above the floor. The department expects the new scheme to help passengers identify buses easily. The buses will no longer carry the “limited-stop” or “ordinary” boards.
The reform is a bit of a dampener in north Kerala at least. Buses in the Malabar region are as famed for their vibrant hues as they are infamous for their reckless speed. Most of them had served as vehicles for artistic fantasies, which contained anything from Ravi Varma characters to matinee idols.
The transport department officials said that the riot of colors often distracted other drivers and caused accidents. They also cite the prevailing confusion as a rationale for the reform. Passengers are often misled by the colors of ordinary and limited-stop buses. The scheme varies from district to district.
Bus operators, however, were open to the idea of color coding. Most of them seemed happy to end the race to own the most pretty bus in town. The artistry came with a hefty price tag after all. The ‘body’ artistes were hard to come by and they commanded a good price.
Bus operators used to spend close to Rs 50,000 on the art alone. The new scheme would keep the cost under Rs 20,000, they expect.
The first bus to comply in Kannur district was the ‘Karunyam’ bus that serves the Thalassery-Panoor-Koothuparambu route. Several other services have followed suit on many of the routes.
Thrown out of the race
Even as they welcome the color-coding of buses, private operators want the authorities to wake up to the harsh realities on the road. The private buses on Kerala roads are fast diminishing for a variety of reasons.
Only less than 14,000 buses ply in Kerala now, less than half the number of buses operated a few years ago. Many operators who owned a fleet of up to 30 buses have chosen to ply one or two buses. Several bus operators have been entirely thrown out of business.
The private bus fare has not been revised in the past three years even though the diesel bill has gone through the roof, representatives of the Bus Operators’ Association said. The body, chassis and spare parts have become dearer too.
After paying the central and state government taxes, employees’ salaries and insurance and factoring in the concessions offered to school and college students, bus services hardly make a profit, the owners claimed.
Read more: Latest Kerala news | Atlas Ramachandran's release imminent, thanks to Sushma Swaraj
