With a fleet of 100 buses, the APSRTC depot of Kuppam at the tri-State junction, flanked by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, kept reaping considerably good revenue in the district. But, dropping of over 25 services, particularly on the overloaded inter-State routes, has come to disappoint the students, working employees, general public and Tirumala-bound pilgrims in a big way.
High occupancy rate
When the Kuppam depot dropped half-a-dozen inter-State bus services on the Tirumala-Kuppam-Krishnagiri and Hosur (TN) route last year, it came as a big puzzle to the commuters who used to frequent these services. All these inter-State services from Kuppam depot were considered a huge hit, with high occupancy rate from originating point at Tirupati. Every trip used to be overloaded, with passengers even opting to travel while standing. The commuters would even praise the Kuppam depot services for their “speed and timeliness.”
The depot had also dropped three prime shuttle services covering Kuppam, Kolar Gold Fields (Karnataka) and Vellore (TN), during the last 10 months.
These services too kept registering high occupancy rate every trip, much to the happiness of daily wagers, students and petty traders. The inter-State bus services to Dharmapuri and Tirupattur (TN) were also cancelled in recent months, disappointing the pilgrims bound for Tirumala.
The weekly services on Friday and Saturday, on Kuppam-Hosur-Tirupati, which were known for overloading of passengers, were also cancelled three months ago.
In spite of the repeated appeals of the public to operate the buses with a fixed time schedule, the depot has not responded to the same between Kuppam-Pernambattu and KGF.
Private services
This route is presently dominated by the private bus services, with allegations of connivance between officials and private operators.
Interestingly, three RTC buses would leave Kuppam towards Pernambattu and KGF in quick succession with poor occupancy after the private services get cleared.
Coming to domestic services from Kuppam depot, covering Palamaner, Chittoor and other rural routes, 70% of the buses are considered “scrap”, having completed the 7 lakh kilometre mark. Majority of the buses have no doors and breakdown frequently on the rural roads.
Kuppam, which comes under the Madanapalle revenue division, had a couple of buses to Madanapalle a decade ago. At present, not even a single direct service is being operated between Kuppam and Madanapalle, in spite of the presence of a large number of government staff from Kuppam, Gudupalle, Shantipuram, Ramakuppam and V.Kota mandals of the tri-State junction.
Several retired APSRTC employees observe that it is unfortunate that the Kuppam depot, with its high-occupancy provisions in the buses, has cut down the prime services. They feel that it is an irony when the APSRTC is projecting huge losses to the corporation. “This is too much in a constituency represented by the Chief Minister,” comes the general comment from public. Kuppam depot manager P.K. Swamy attributed the phenomenon to shortage of drivers and crew.