Kerala faced heavy Floods for the third time.
A lot of lives were lost. Many lost their houses and shelter.
Experts claimed one reason for floods is global warming.

Kerala’s number of vehicles per 1,000 population as of March 2019 is 425 compared to the country’s 18 per 1,000 population, China’s 47, and the United States' 507 as per the World Development Indicators of 2015. Kerala has only 0.5 buses for 1000 people compared to the National Average of 1.33 buses for 1000 people. Even Bangladesh has 0.97 buses for 1000 people.

Kerala with very high vehicle density faces a lot of challenges due to environmental pollution and traffic-related congestion and incidents.
At the same time public transport which is the mode of transport of the poor facing a lot of challenges even before COVID. Within years number of private stage carriage vehicles reduced from 34000 to 8000.

After COVID, only a few buses are operating owing to the higher prices of fuel and reduced passenger count. For Buses expenses on fuel is almost constant, regardless of the number of people traveling in buses. Unlike other industries, the government decides fares for public transport and not under operator control. Even necessary services like hospitals are allowed to fix their own charges.

The current minimum fare of 8 rupees was decided in 2018 when the diesel price was 68.

Private buses also carry students for 1 rupee which is fixed in 2012 when the diesel price was 48.For traveling 3 kilometers with 1-liter diesel, private buses needed to carry 92 students for diesel expense alone.

The government needs to protect the dying bus industry for the betterment of the environment by providing diesel at a subsidized rate for public transport vehicles. As the buses fitted by AIS14O GPS mandated by the government, this subsidy cannot be misused.
Lower fares on buses will encourage people to move away from private vehicles. The government will not lose much revenue from fuel as it can continue to charge higher taxes on fuel for private vehicles and still support the poor by making bus travel cheaper. This is definitely needed for a better environment for the future generation.