Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has rolled out new sleeper buses featuring large, colourful graphics, even as tourist buses in the state remain bound by strict rules mandating plain white paint to ensure road safety.

After images surfaced online, questions have been raised over KSRTC’s alleged double standards in allowing the use of colourful graphics, and the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) not taking any action.

Tourist bus owners, who have been directed to paint their vehicles white under the new rule, are planning to move court against what they call a biased stance. The State Transport Authority had earlier mandated that tourist buses be painted only in white, arguing that vibrant designs could distract other drivers on the road and potentially cause accidents.

The government had earlier directed that all tourist buses be painted white and stripped of graphic designs, following the 2022 Vadakkencherry accident in Palakkad, in which nine people were killed. The Motor Vehicles Department had then concluded that flashy designs and graphics on tourist buses distracted other drivers, contributing to accidents. The white colour was chosen as it was believed to make the buses more visible on the road. Private bus operators were forced to spend over ₹2 lakh each to remove existing graphics and repaint their vehicles white, with repainting alone costing nearly ₹50,000. Already struggling from the financial setbacks of the pandemic, many operators were hit hard by this mandate.

As a result, more than 2,000 tourist buses were either sold outside the state or shifted under permits in other states. Some operators even invested heavily to obtain an All India Tourist Permit to retain their original colours. Although tourist bus operators had pushed for the cancellation of the colour code rule, the transport authority left the matter undecided.