VIJAYAWADA: The cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) earned a revenue of Rs 229 crore by operating 5,887 special buses from September 27 to October 13 from Hyderabad to various destinations across the State for providing hassle-free journey during the Dasara festival season.
According to the RTC officials, this year the corporation has bettered its earnings by almost Rs 20 crore as compared with the earlier year by running special buses and ferrying around 40,000 passengers every day during the festive season. Special buses were operated from Hyderabad to major cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada. The passenger occupancy ratio (OR) continued to be at 103 per cent for the second consecutive year.
“This festive season, the APSRTC has benefited up to some extent following the indefinite strike launched by TSRTC employees from October 5. With this, an unprecedented rush was witnessed between the coastal districts and Hyderabad, which reached a peak on October 6 and 7. In this regard, the RTC has pressed into service and operated 200 special services to Hyderabad alone, in addition to the regular 120 services,” said a senior RTC official.
He further said that a series of surprise checks carried out by the transport department against private bus operators across the State helped the corporation to operate additional buses.