The occupancy rate in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses as per the COVID-19 protocol is 83% in the Anantapur region, but the reduced seating capacity and lack of patronage from the rural areas, have affected the revenue of the corporation.
Against an average daily revenue of ₹1.10 crore from bus operations, currently ₹25 lakh is being realised as the occupancy accounts for only 54% of actual available seats during normal time.
Currently the region is running 327 services against a normal of 873 in the intra-district and intra-State segment and with the State government permitting services to Karnataka from June 17, another 58 services have been added. “We have been allowed to operate inter-State buses only to Karnataka, while Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra are still out of bounds for us,” Regional Manager Sumanth R. Adoni told The Hindu.
He said in the first phase of the inter-State operations out of the regular 160 buses, 58 would be operated to Bellary, Sira, Bengaluru and Pavagada, which account for 98 services a day from both directions.
“Currently the RTC is operating from 12 out of 13 depots in the region due to total lockdown in Hindupur. The Hindupur depot used to run between 40 and 50 buses on a daily basis within the State and to Karnataka.”
Buses would be run to destinations in Karnataka from Guntakal, Kadiri, Penukonda, Anantapur, Tadipatri, Puttaparthi, Rayadurg, Kalyandurg, and Uravakonda.
COVID restrictions
The Kurnool region, meanwhile, has planned to run 20 services -- 16 to Bengaluru and four to Bellary from Srisailam, Mantralayam, Kurnool, Adoni, Nandyal, and Yemmiganur, said Kurnool Regional Manager T. Venkataramam.
“We are operating around 300 buses daily, transporting 22,000 passengers and earning around ₹20 lakh despite COVID restrictions. The current daily revenue accounts for 15% of the normal earnings in the Kurnool region,” he added.