Six months after introducing the Travel As You Like ticket, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Saturday hiked its price by 20%.
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The transport juggernaut had pitched the ticket — also known as T24 — to its patrons and others as a ticket which would cost less than a litre of petrol. The ticket will now costs ₹ 120.
As on May 21, the price of a litre of petrol in Hyderabad stands at ₹ 119. 49. And given the latest developments, that of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing on Saturday that the Centre would reduce excise duty on fuel, a litre of petrol is expected to be much cheaper.
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According to sources, the T24 ticket sales were doing well. The price was reduced for a week as a World Women’s Day initiative. However, prices were restored to ₹ 100 on April 1.
The sources pointed out that the move behind the hike is on account of continuously increasing operational costs which have been bleeding the organisation. They said that given the higher cost of diesel, buses going off the roads during the lockdown, and other factors, a rationalisation of ticket fares had become necessary.
The TSRTC had introduced passenger cess, safety cess and diesel cess. While officials maintained that the basic fare on account of these cesses was not altered, passengers in most cases were paying more. This was due to the ticket being rounded off to the nearest multiple of ₹ 5, which was the next multiple in most cases.
In a separate development, the TSRTC announced that they would organise a free mock test for sub-inspector of police aspirants. TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan and Vice-Chairman and Managing Director V C Sajjanar said that the mock test would help aspirants prepare for the sub-inspector and constable posts. The mock test will be organised in collaboration with Sreedhar’s CCE Institute