BENGALURU: Thanks to higher road taxes, restrictive permit conditions and other regulations in Karnataka buses are struggling to keep pace with the rising number of private vehicles.Transport department records show the number of private vehicles registered in the state almost doubled between 2011-12 and 2018-19 (till January): two-wheelers (77.4 lakh to 1.5 crore) and cars (12.7 lakh to 24.7 lakh). However, the number of buses (stage carriages, contract carriages, private service, educational institution and other buses) registered increased from 62,508 to 1.06 lakh, an addition of just 44,404 vehicles during this period.Experts say buses occupy one-tenth of the road space per passenger as against private vehicles. However, the purchase of a vehicle is not linked to the space used by vehicles or the proportion of commuters they ferry. "A car is consuming 12.8 times more space on Bengaluru roads during the peak hour to carry one person than a bus and 1.8 times than a two-wheeler," said Ashish Verma, professor of transport engineering at IISc.Fewer buses — private and government— leads to poor public transport system in urban and rural areas, further pushing growth of private vehicles. Karnataka levies one of the highest road taxes in the country on buses. For stage-carriage buses, the department collects Rs 990 per seat for every three months. It means a 48-seater bus will have to pay about Rs 47,520 every three months, which translates to 1.9 lakh a year. In contrast, one-time life-time road tax and cess for a Rs 10lakh-worth car is only Rs 1.5 lakh.Sources said an increasing number of buses plying in the state are now registered in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Odisha and Puducherry as they have less permit restrictions and road taxes.There are also several complaints against private operators for operating different buses under single permit. While buses with contract-carriage permits are allowed to operate from a fixed point to another to ferry people, many are plying as regular stage-carriage buses, picking and dropping passengers from bus stands and en-route bus stops.Former transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao said there is huge demand for buses, particularly in districts where there are not enough government buses. "Many contract-carriage buses are plying as stage carriers because of high demand. Tax structure for buses should be reduced to improve the public transport system," he added.KT Rajashekar, chairman of the Bus Operators’ Confederation of India, said their pleas to reduce taxes have fallen on deaf ears. “Many operators are paying several lakhs as taxes every month. This apart, diesel cost and other maintenance costs have gone up which is affecting us,” he said.It’s illogical to impose heavy tax on buses that carry more people than private vehicles. With the transport department imposing high taxes, bus owners also pass on the burden to the common people. Ideally, there should be higher tax on private vehicles like cars to discourage their use. More buses on roads means less congestion and pollution, which is a sustainable model. Unfortunately, our government’s priorities are different as there are no incentives for those who use public transport

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