Occupancy zooms in Road Transport Corporation buses

Tirupati: Putting an end to the bifurcation blues that surrounded the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and its people, the Occupancy Ratio (OR) in Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses is now increasing in Hyderabad sector. Contrary to the firm belief that APSRTC has reduced the buses to Hyderabad post bifurcation there was no major cut in services between the two destinations.

Highlights:

• APSRTC earned Rs 37.23 crore revenue in 2015-16 and Rs 39.96 crore in 2016-17
• RTC Tirupati region running 85 buses including 15 AC to Hyderabad
• Passenger flow increasing to Amaravati from here after shifting of the Secretariat

But, the OR during 2015-16 was around 60-70 per cent. During the last six months, the occupancy has increased close to 80 per cent. The RTC earned Rs 37.23 crore revenue in 2015-16. Though it rose to Rs 39.96 crore in the next year it was due to the increase in fares.

Significantly, Tirupati-Hyderabad sector has recorded 76 per cent of occupancy in the last two months and earned Rs 8 crore revenue which is Rs 1 crore more than the corresponding period last year. Presently, there are 85 buses of all types from Tirupati region to Hyderabad of which 15 are AC buses. But, Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is also running more number of services to the district from various parts of their state.

Still, the TSRTC is creating some difficulties for AP buses in Telangana. The position of APSRTC staff and its buses is worse than private operators in Hyderabad and some other areas in that state, sources said. They are not providing proper place for AP buses to park in their bus stations but demanding all facilities in our state, they said. They are continuously increasing their services to AP also.

After bifurcation, the flow of passengers to Amaravati has been picking up. Passenger flow has been increasing gradually from here to Amaravati after shifting of the Secretariat. Accordingly, the APSRTC earned Rs 12 crore in 2016-17 as against Rs 7.5 crore in the previous year.

The occupancy was 68 per cent which is 7 percent down from the previous year. The reason was said to be that additional services might have introduced during middle of the year which resulted in overall increase of occupancy ratio during 2015-16.

The OR recorded 80 per cent in April-May 2017 as against 73 per cent in the corresponding period in the previous year. As the demand increasing to Vijayawada sector, the RTC has been introducing additional services from time to time. The Assistant Traffic Manager Bhaskar Reddy said that 13 new services were introduced during the last two years and a total of 31 services are plying to Vijayawada sector.

A final call on increasing the number of services would be taken towards Hyderabad sector after the interstate agreement is finalised on sharing of routes by the RTCs of the two states, said RTC Regional Manager V Nagasivudu. Speaking to The Hans India he said that after a gap of one year now they are seeing good patronage for their buses from passengers to Hyderabad. They are ready to operate any number of buses to Vijayawada according to the demand, he averred.

By V Pradeep Kumar