Seven routes finalised for operating low-floor city buses

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has finalised seven routes in the city for operating 40 low-floor metro deluxe buses from the first week of October, according to its Regional Manager A. Koteswara Rao.

He said in a statement on Thursday that these buses were allotted to the city under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). These CNG-run buses would ferry passengers to their destination in a far less time than ordinary city buses because of the limited number of halts. The tariff would be marginally higher than what is charged in the ordinary city buses.

The routes were finalised during a visit of Executive Director (operations) C. Damodar Das to the city on Wednesday, when he held discussions with Executive Director (Vijayawada and Vizianagaram zones) G.V. Ramana Rao, Mr. Koteswara Rao and other officials.

Six of these buses would be operated from railway station to Kankipadu at an interval of 15 minutes. On this route the APSRTC was already operating 38 ordinary city buses.

From railway station to Gannavaram, in which route the RTC was operating 31 city buses, six new buses would be operated at an interval of 18 minutes.

From the city bus station in Vijayawada to B.Ed college centre in Guntur, six buses would be operated at an interval of 20 minutes.

The fourth service (non-stop) would be from the city bus station in Vijayawada to Ratna Talkies centre in Tenali.

Four buses would be operated on this route for every 40 minutes.

One more service would be operated as a ‘ring route’ from railway station to railway station, passing through Bandar road, ring road and Eluru road. Six buses would be used on this route for every 15 minutes, which would be in addition to the 25 ordinary buses that were being run on the Panja-Panja route.

Sixth route

The sixth route would be Kondapalli-Poranki, on which the APSRTC was already operating 17 ordinary services. On this route six new buses for every 30 minutes would be operated via Ibrahimpatnam, Gollapudi and Bhavanipuram areas.

The last route would be from Kaleswara Rao market to Poranki through Besant road. Six buses would be operated for every 13 minutes on this route, where already 22 ordinary services were being operated.