It’s all the way downhill for transport business as new Covid-19 curbs kick in

PRTC HAS BEEN RUNNING ITS FLEET OF 1,073 BUSES AT 45% CAPACITY EVEN AS PVT OPERATORS ARE YET TO START FULL OPERATIONS DUE TO INCREASING LOSSES

PATIALA: With new restrictions announced by the Punjab government following a steep rise in Covid-19 infections in Punjab, public and private transport services, which looked to be picking up in the unlock period, face a downhill ride again.

So much so, state run Pepsu road transport corporation (PRTC) is incurring losses of Rs 1 crore a day, sources say.

According to fresh guidelines, only 50% occupancy is allowed in buses even though they were allowed to run at full capacity after the previous lockdown ended.prtc has been running its fleet of 1,073 buses at 45% capacity even as most private services have yet to start full operations due to increasing losses.

PRTC managing director Jaskiran Singh said the new rules will make a deeper dent in revenue collections than previously after the lockdown. “Seat occupancy was estimated at 55% even when the transport utilities were allowed to run at full capacity. In such a scenario, it is at present unable to even recover operational costs, including maintenance and fuel expenses,” he added. In the changed scenario, PRTC will first analyse seat occupancy before taking a call on expanding its fleet, he said.

PEOPLE AVOIDING PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Pradeep Gautam, a private transporter, said it would take time for business to pick up as fears of contracting Covid-19 were palpable among people.

“Private transporters can’t afford to run buses with such low occupancy and the new rules will make things worse,” he said, adding that most operators had opted to not run their vehicles.“the operational cost, including maintenance, can be recovered only if there is more than 70% seat occupancy,” Gautam added.

PRTC GOING THROUGH A ROUGH PATCH FINANCIALLY

Even though its operations resumed after easing of restrictions on May 18, PRTC is incurring losses of Rs 1 crore a day.

Before lockdown in March, the estimated daily income of the corporation was Rs 1.40 crore. However at present its revenues total anything between Rs 43 to Rs 45 lakh.nirmal Singh Dhaliwal, convener of trade unions linked with PRTC, said the state run undertaking is going through a rough patch financially. “Losses are increasing every month. In the Covid-19 outbreak period, the corporation has incurred losses estimated at Rs 150 crore so far,” Dhaliwal said.

He added the corporation incurred ₹51 crore loss in the first 60 days of the lockdown, with average daily loss pegged at ₹ 85 lakh.