The Hindu Business Line : State road transport corporations: Some units get more fuel-efficient

State road transport corporations of North-Eastern Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have emerged as the most fuel-efficient units across States, with their fleets clocking an average distance of over five kilometre per litre (kmpl) of high-speed diesel (HSD).

This is according to performance review report for the second quarter (July-September) of 2006-07, which is the latest data compiled by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Overall, there appears to be improvement with 34 reporting State road transport units (SRTUs) listing better fuel efficiency — the average distance clocked per litre of HSD was at 4.34 km in the second quarter of 2006-07 against 4.24 km in the corresponding period the previous fiscal. Fuel efficiency is one of the key operating efficiency parameters for SRTUs as fuel costs usually account for the largest/second largest share of the total cost structure for road transport units.

For the quarter ended September 2006, expense on fuel and lubricants accounted for 37 per cent share of total cost for all state road transport units on an average, followed by staff costs which accounted for 36 per cent share of costs.

FACTORS AFFECTING FUEL EFFICIENCY

“High fuel efficiency level is driven by various factors that include age of fleet, fleet maintenance, number of stoppages and geographical terrain,” said a Ministry official.

For instance, transport corporations in hilly terrains such as Himachal Pradesh, Tripura (3.61 kmpl), Meghalaya (3.21), Mizoram (3.34) and Nagaland (3.83) report relatively lower fuel efficiencies.

Similarly, buses in the metro cities tend to have a number of stops, so even if they have a relatively younger fleet, the fuel efficiency is lower.

Metro TC Chennai Ltd, with an average fleet age of 8.6 years, registered 3.81 km for every litre of HSD. But Gujarat State Transport Corporation, with a comparable average age profile of 8.97 years, registered 5.19 kmpl fuel efficiency.

Bangalore, with one of the youngest fleets (4.51 years), has a fuel efficiency level of 4.55 kmpl.

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses, with an average fleet age of 5.2 years, covered 3.92 km distance with one litre of HSD; but Mumbai’s BEST had a lower fuel efficiency of 3.18 kmpl despite running a younger bus fleet (5.1 years) than Delhi.

Other State transport units that registered fuel efficiency levels of over five kmpl include Karnataka (5.06), North West Karnataka (5.2) and Haryana (5.03). Five State transport companies in Tamil Nadu — State Express (5.16), Kumbakonam (5.23), Madurai (5.08), Salem (5.2), Villupuram (5.16) — have also been able to make it to the five kmpl-plus efficiency club.

Recommendations

Given these fuel efficiency numbers, the Ministry’s performance evaluation report suggests measures such as improving technology of vehicles, changing fleet composition in favour of new and more fuel-efficient buses, and improvement in inspection and maintenance practices, amongst others.

Moreover, with some of the road transport units, such as Delhi Transport Corporation and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation adopting new fleets, one is likely to witness further improvements in the average fuel efficiency.

While fuel efficiency is one of the key factors that affects profitability of SRTUs, other performance parameters to be tracked include fleet strength, fleet age profile, fleet utilisation, vehicle productivity and occupancy ratio.

The SRTUs that posted profits during the second quarter of 2006-07 fiscal were Bangalore Metropolitan TC (Rs 31.44 crore), Andhra Pradesh SRTC (Rs 29.26 crore) and TN STC-Villupuram (Rs 4.9 crore).