Close to 90% of the operations of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) have been restored in the Anantapur region.
Out of 679 scheduled RTC bus services, 525 are being operated on different routes. But the hired bus services have not yet been restored.
With the restoration of services from the areas where there was a demand, the region topped the State till September-end.
In October, the patronage increased manifold with majority of the demand coming from Karnataka, where 110 of the 161 services had been restored to destinations such as Bellary, Bengaluru, Sira, and Pavagada, Regional Manager Sumanth R. Adoni told The Hindu.
On Monday, the first day of resumption of operations to Hyderabad, one bus was operated. But on Tuesday, nine services were operated against the 16 permitted as per the agreement.
Twenty-four buses were operated from Anantapur to Hyderabad prior to the pandemic. However, only 16 would be allowed now. “If the demand increases, the load will be proportionately shared,” he said.
In Kurnool region
There was a demand for 39 buses in the Kurnool region on Tuesday, said Regional Manager T. Venkataramam.
The region used to run 74 services, but the number was cut down to 52 under the new agreement.
“There is not much demand at present as the festive season is over. There may be a slight increase in demand ahead of Deepavali,” he added.
Demand for Karnataka buses did not increase proportionately as the majority of the employees from Bengaluru were engaged under the ‘Work From Home’ arrangement.
The Anantapur region clocked 210.78 lakh km between April 1 and October 31 though there were no services from March 22 to May 21 due to lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. The occupancy ratio till the end of September was 58.41%. It went up to 68.90% in October alone. The earning per km was ₹26.23 till September-end, and it went up to ₹30.94 in October.
The earnings in the region, which were ₹3,860.59 lakh till the end of September, jumped to ₹5,827.59 lakh by the end of October.
This was possible in spite of 620 permanent employees contracting the virus four of them succumbing to it.
