VIJAYAWADA: Defending the decision to charge 50 per cent extra fare for special services during Sankranti, APSRTC vice-chairman and managing director Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao felt that any decision taken by both APSRTC and TSRTC should not benefit private bus operators, especially during the festival seasons.
Responding to TSRTC’s decision not to collect extra fare for special buses, Tirumala Rao said the Telangana corporation had already increased the fare following the spiralling prices of diesel, whereas the APSRTC fares have remained the same for the convenience of passengers.“Diesel price has gone up by 60 per cent in the past few months and to make up for the losses to be incurred, the corporation has decided to collect 50 per cent extra fare from the passengers,” he clarified,
“It would be better if both the APSRTC and TSRTC come to a decision as per the inter-state agreement and increase the number of kilometres to be operated in both the States to get mutual benefits rather than passing the revenue to private bus operators. Cargo charges levied by APSRTC is less than its Telangana counterpart. We are hoping the people will give patronage to the corporation during the festive season without bothering about the extra fare,” Tirumala Rao said.
Addressing the media at RTC House, Tirumala Rao said the corporation has decided to operate 6,970 special buses from January 7 to 13 to meet the rush during Sankranti. All special buses will ferry passengers to Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Of the total 6,970 special buses, 3,755 (470 buses per day) will be operated from Friday.
While the remaining 3,215 (400 buses per day) will be operated during the post festive season from January 15 to 18, he said. Elaborating further, the RTC MD said the festive special buses will have 9,000 series and asked the passengers to notice the same before boarding the buses.About 60 per cent of regular services and 50 per cent of special buses have been reserved till now. Special buses will depart from busy areas, and if there are more passengers in the colonies and intersections, the bus will depart from those areas also, he said.
Referring to the introduction of electric buses, the MD said that a prototype of electric bus will be operated on a pilot basis in the State from February. Commenting on the bus mishap at Jangareddygudem, he said the panel to probe the incident has submitted the report a couple of days ago and action will be taken accordingly.