VIJAYAWADA: RTC Bhavan, the new state headquarters of APSRTC in Vijayawada, is likely to be opened on October 1, with works progressing at a brisk pace.
Disclosing this to mediapersons here Thursday, APSRTC vice-chairman and managing director N Sambasiva Rao said the new building was the beginning of improvement in the performance of APSRTC to enhance its revenues.
Admitting that illicit operations by private buses was affecting the revenues of APSRTC, Rao said measures to deal with them would be taken at the district-level coordination committee meetings held in every district. “On our part, we have formed ‘Parirakshana Committees’ at bus stations. These teams would ensure that no autorickshaws or private buses were allowed near the RTC bus stations in the state.
Stating that they were now focussing more on improving passenger amenities, he said, “For many years now, `1 on every ticket was collected for passenger amenities and it is being solely used for that purpose,” he said. In regard to the improvement of revenues, he said they were focussing more on improving non-traffic revenues and on the directions of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, they were going for commercialisation of land assets of the organisation. APSRTC owns 1,994 acres of land in the state and the vacant part of it would be used for commercial activities, he explained.
Asked about the measures they were taking to improve the revenues, he said the foremost proposal was to hike fares and the same was with the government and it was yet to take any decision. “If we can reduce the staff-bus ratio by at least 0.1 point, the organisation can save `48 crore. But we cannot do so. We have decided not to recruit further. Efforts are being made to improve the occupancy ratio from the present 72 per cent. We are contemplating giving incentives to drivers for bettering corporate average of 5.17 kmpl,” he explained.