more-in The ongoing Ashada maasam is a slack season for the RTC. As the month is considered inauspicious, many people postpone their plans which includes travelling, impacting the revenue of the public transport giant. “At the moment we are witnessing a slack season. The Occupancy Ratio will pick up only during the Dasara-Deepavali festivals,” says Corporation Vice-Chairman and Managing Director M. Malakondaiah. The officials, meanwhile, are making use of this period to focus on internal strengthening of the organisation. They plan to add some 1,000 buses in its fleet. The buses will arrive in phases till March next year. However, only 20 of them would be sleeper coaches. Post-GST, the APSRTC is to acquire these buses directly from the manufacturers as the tax is uniform. The RTC has a fleet of 10,800 buses that have been categorised to cater to the travel needs of people in the 13 districts. Of them, 240 are AC buses, 1,350 are Super Luxury, 560 Deluxe, 2,600 Express services, 1,000 ordinary city services and 400 buses that operate on the Tirumala ghat road. The remaining buses are categorised as either Telugu Velugu or Palle Velugu. Row over illicit operations The row over violation of the rulebook by private travel operators who were asked to take their vehicles off the roads in Andhra Pradesh after their licences were cancelled by the Arunachal Pradesh government, gave a glimmer of hope to the State transport sector to enhance its operations. But with the owners of the private travel buses moving the court, the RTC is forced to switch to ‘wait and watch’ mode. “Public transport has to go up in a country like India. We have been requesting the government to initiate effective measures to curb operations by private operators who have been causing a major dent in the RTC revenue. There are specific clauses prohibiting even plying of auto-rickshaws on the National Highways. Maxi cabs are also denting our revenue,” says Mr. Malakondaiah. Illicit plying of the private vehicles is a perennial menace for the Corporation officials who fervently hope for an early solution to the stand-off so they could think of ways to galvanise the organisation out of the financial crisis.

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