The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will step up measures to improve fuel efficiency of its buses, faced with a daily additional financial burden of ₹75.83 lakh owing to public sector oil companies increasing the price of diesel they supply to it by a massive ₹21.1 a litre.
Over the past decade, the fuel efficiency per litre of diesel improved marginally from less than 4.20 km to 4.26 km. Albeit a marginal improvement, the figure was attained despite low-floor AC buses having fuel efficiency of just about 2.50 km per litre joining the fleet during the past 12 years, official sources said.
Sources in the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) said the KSRTC’s efforts at improving fuel efficiency were not as proactive as that by other RTCs in the southern States. Even among them, Karnataka made significant improvement over the years — crossing the 5-km per litre mark, they added.
Interestingly, the PCRA does not have a full-time official in Kerala, contrary to the situation till a few years ago when it was actively involved in creating awareness on fuel conservation, with the aim of reining in operational expenses and lessening pollution and wear and tear of vehicles.
KSRTC sources said its drivers were being trained at colleges and other institutions, including on attitudinal changes, safe driving, and fuel saving. “With the skyrocketing price of diesel, monitoring and driver counselling will be stepped up at the depot level to improve fuel efficiency,” they added.
