Hundreds of passengers who had reserved bus tickets from the Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminus (CMBT) waited till evening to travel to their destinations, as the Andhra Pradesh strike affected bus services between the states. Some cancelled their trip after enquiring about the delay over phone.
The services resumed at 3 p.m., Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) sources said.
The call for bandh given by APNGOs Association and various political parties partially affected bus services of APSRTC in the morning but vehicles were back on the road in the afternoon in Nellore district. There was no major impact on the services between Nellore and Chennai. The APSRTC operates 40 buses on this route and there are nine services run by Tamil Nadu.
APSRTC Nellore regional manager C. Ravikumar said there was a minor disruption in the bus services for a while but the situation was by and large normal.
Bus services operated by the Tamil Nadu transport corporation ran till Tirutanni and Arambakkam and Nellore. From there, passengers travelled by train to their destinations.
According to APSRTC officials, there are a total of 207 services operated with 169 buses from CMBT to Andhra Pradesh. Of these, around 100 are to temple towns including Tirupati and Kalahasthi. “On weekdays, around 20,000 passengers travel to Andhra Pradesh by bus and the number doubles on weekends,” said an APSRTC official at CMBT.
APSRTC officials said they had suffered 60 per cent revenue loss due to the strike. “On an average, our revenue is Rs. 6 lakhs per day. Many passengers who knew about the strike did not travel and a few of them who had booked tickets in advance cancelled the tickets. This has caused some revenue loss,” said the official.
Rajesh K., an IT employee who was waiting near the APSRTC counter in CMBT, said he had booked bus tickets to travel to Tirupathi. “I was told the services would resume after 3 p.m. So I decided to wait,” he said.
( With inputs from G. Ravikiran in Nellore.)
