KHAMMAM: Vexed with huge losses and to improve revenue, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is now organising classes for its staff by training them on how to be more courteous with passengers.
The classes began in Khammam region on Wednesday and the officials are quite optimistic that these "courtesy classes" would yield the desired results. The training classes will see officials giving tips to field staff on how to maintain their composure when behaving with passengers and how to tackle to them with words alone.
Khammam RTC region earned good revenue before the pandemic, averaging close to Rs 90 lakh per day. However, COVID-19 impacted the revenue stream badly and earnings plummeted to around Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh.
The lifting of the lockdown brought back the passengers, but not to the pre-pandemic levels. The Khammam RTC region revenue now averages between Rs 70 to Rs 80 lakh.
The officials say that there is much to do to recover lost ground and the "courtesy classes" are part of these efforts. Courtesy training classes are going on in the limits of six depots, with the depot managers training the staff in their respective depot limitsevery day.
There are 2,500 employees in Khammam RTC region (including Bhadradri-Kothagudem district) including drivers, conductors, office and garage staff. According to Khammam region regional manager Pagidimarthi Soloman, at least one month time is needed to cover all staff to teach courtesy classes.
He said that during the training sessions, the employees are told "change yourself first, then everything would be good". He said that every day, at least 30 employees are being imparted "courtesy training".
About a month ago, a core team of the RTC with DVM level and then depot manager level officials had attended training classes in headquarters, before the training classes were arranged for depot limit staff. Without admitting it publicly, RTC senior officials believe that due to the rude behaviour by some staff members, the Corporation is getting a bad name which is driving passengers away.