Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), N.V. Surendra Babu, said that there was a 5% increase in road accidents involving APSRTC buses in the State in the 2018-19 financial year over the previous fiscal.
While there were 463 road accidents involving APSRTC buses in the 2017-18 financial year, the accidents went up to 498 during the 2018-19 financial year.
“The prime reason for the increase in number of accidents is a rise in the number of vehicles. APSRTC is taking all possible measures to bring down the accident rate,” Mr. Surendra Babu said.
The APSRTC MD was addressing a press conference after a review meeting with RTC officials of Visakhapatnam region in the city on Wednesday.
Mr. Surendra Babu said that APSRTC drivers who are found to be negligent or careless in their duty would be dealt with strictly, and said the Corporation would not hesitate to suspend erring drivers.
“If a complaint reaches us saying an APSRTC bus driver has been talking on the phone while driving, we make use of the GPS live tracking of the bus and check call data records at that time. In one incident, we found that a driver was talking on his phone for nine minutes while driving. We immediately suspended him,” Mr. Surendra Babu said.
Rise in occupancy
“Compared to the 2017-18 financial year, the Visakhapatnam RTC region has witnessed an occupancy increase of 5% with good performance in operation of buses. In 2018-19, the RTC has recorded a revenue of ₹382 crore with ₹30 crore additional increase when compared to 2017-18,” the MD said.
Losses curtailed
Mr. Surendra Babu said that they managed to curtail losses to ₹1,000 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal, as against ₹1,250 crore in 2017-18. He attributed the loss of revenue to increase in diesel prices every year and several unforeseen aspects.
“With a focus on controlling revenue loss, APSRTC cut down on unnecessary expenditure of ₹200 crore. Even though there was a steep hike in diesel rates, APSRTC did not hike its ticket prices. Our goal in the final year is to reduce more losses,” Mr. Surendra Babu said.
On the carrier’s parcel services, Mr. Surendra Babu said, “RTC has been operating parcel services for the last three years and has achieved good revenue every year. While the earnings stood at ₹44 crore in 2017-18, it went up to ₹72 crore in 2018-19. This year, the target is ₹125 crore.”
More buses needed
Mr. Surendra Babu said that there is a need for over a 1,000 buses for the State. However, due to financial constraints, the Corporation is preferring to hire buses rather than buy them. The MD said that they had received board approval that they could have 35% of hire buses, which is now 22%. He added that there is a demand for AC buses operated by APSRTC in the State, which could be further increased.
