‘Mhaji Bus scheme to ease rivalry between pvt & KTC buses'

Time of India

19-05-2025

Panaji:
The state-wide roll out of the
Mhaji Bus scheme
has the potential to reduce the competition between
private bus operators
and
Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited
(KTCL) buses, said KTCL managing director Rohan Kaskar. With just over 800 private buses operating on intra-state routes in Goa, Kaskar said that govt hopes to bring most of these buses under the scheme.
'Currently, the routes overlap, and there is competition and a distinction between private and KTC buses. Commuters with a monthly pass can board any bus. In this way, when there is a clash between private buses and
KTCL buses
, we can reschedule the timings and deploy a bus on a different route or at a different time when a bus is not available,' said Kaskar. He said that fear among the private bus operators was unfounded, as the incentives offered to them are attractive.
KTCL is offering a revenue of Rs 3 per km to private bus operators, along with subsidies on comprehensive insurance and scrapping of the vehicle after 15 years of operations.
KTCL is also offering 50% of the advertising revenue earned from each private bus to be shared with the respective bus owner.
'The earlier scheme was a pilot scheme available only for three routes. We operated 57 buses under the pilot scheme. It was introduced to understand the scheme before it was rolled out more extensively. We learned from the pilot scheme and developed the new scheme. The new scheme is for all of Goa,' said Kaskar.