With the holiday season ending and slack period beginning, State-owned APSRTC is contemplating new ways of attracting more passengers to improve its all-important occupancy ratio (OR). With a view to catering to prospective passengers either without internet access for online booking or who do not have the time to do it on their own at that point of time, APSRTC is contemplating introducing door delivery of tickets booked online. “It's a novel proposal but still in initial stage and will be sent to the head office for approval,” RTC Visakhapatnam rural Deputy Chief Traffic Manager P. Jeevan Prasad said.
Visakhapatnam has 31 agents in the urban area and 25 in rural areas. But some might still have reservations about getting tickets through agents, he says. To overcome it, RTC intends to have dedicated personnel with a specific mobile number to book tickets online for passengers, says Mr. Jeevan Prasad. The booking is proposed to be taken up only one day in advance and between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the previous day. Details of the booked ticket will appear on the mobile of the prospective passenger.
After booking the ticket, it will be delivered at the doorstep of the passengers. Besides fare and online booking charge, an additional Rs.20 will be collected for delivering the ticket through ANL Parcel Service, operated by RTC.