The Motor Vehicles Department’s move to make speed governors mandatory for all stage carriers in the state may put the drivers of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in trouble as they would struggle to reach destinations on time with the speed limit of 60 km per hour.
The KSRTC, which has a fleet of 6157 buses, is yet to fix speed governors in all its buses. As the deadline set for heavy vehicles to get the speed governors installed came to an end on October 2, the MVD has started sealing the gadget to make it tamper-proof in private stage carriers.
Though the MVD has not yet started conducting checks for speed governors in state-owned buses, the Department is expected to commence it soon.
‘’The MVD is yet to begin the sealing of speed governors in KSRTC buses. The installation of the gadget is done by the Corporation itself at its depots. Once the process is completed, we will start the drive for sealing them. Action against non-installation or tampering of the speed governors will be started as soon as the sealing is completed,’’ said Joint Transport Commissioner (Enforcement) C M Said Mohammed.
An office-bearer of the KSRTC Drivers’ Welfare Forum said on condition of anonymity that it would become impossible to keep the running time after the installation of the speed governor. ‘’The speed limit of all heavy vehicles, including KSRTC buses, is fixed at 60 kmph, and the gadget is sealed to prevent tampering. Currently, the fast passenger buses in the state follow a running time of 1.45 minutes per km. While it is 2.30 minutes for ordinary buses, for super fast buses, it is 1.30 minutes. It is almost impossible to meet this target in cities where there is heavy traffic and on narrow roads once the speed governors are installed,’’ he said.
However, the installation and repairing of the speed governors in the KSRTC buses are progressing. ‘’Speed governors are functional in as many as 95 per cent of the KSRTC buses. The faulty gadgets in the rest 5 per cent of buses will soon be repaired. The schedules were worked out by giving ample running time. So, the speed governors will not make the schedules any tighter,’’ Chief Traffic Manager and Executive Director (Operations) of KSRTC, K M Irshad, said.
But the drivers feel otherwise. ‘’The schedules are set according to the running time. Currently, the time loss due to the heavy traffic and other problems on road are covered with the drivers speeding up in the roads were there is less traffic. Setting speed limit would prevent this and would cause delay in schedules,’’ say the office-bearers of the Forum.
Currently, the minimum fare for Limited Stop Buses is Rs 8 while it is Rs 12.00 for Super Fast Services. But after the speed governors are installed, there will not be much of a difference in the total running time of the two services. Eventually, it would lead to a situation in which the passengers would have to pay more amount with little or no time being saved,’’ they said.
New Indian Express
