The State government has decided to further strengthen ‘e’ ticketing system by introducing payment gateways and make the RTC travel more accessible to the traveling public.
As mentioned in the budget, several initiatives have been planned to improve the financial condition of the APSRTC in the coming years. In order to meet the hike in the HSD oil price and other input costs, the basic fare in the buses was increased from July 16 last year. It was also decided to improve the product mix by introducing new types of vehicles viz. Volvo air-conditioned buses, Indra air-conditioned buses, Garuda Plus buses, low-floor air-conditioned city buses, semi-low floor city buses under JNNURM to make the passenger travel more comfortable.
Wide publicity of marketing schemes of the Corporation will be taken up to increase the market share in the transport sector. Recently the State government entrusted fabrication of high security number plates to be fitted to all the vehicles in the State, which was mandatory. At present, there are one crore vehicles in the State and every year the number was expected to increase by 10%. By this activity, the Corporation would get a considerable amount of other income.
With a view to diversify the activities, the Corporation was contemplating to take up goods transportation in future like transportation of coal from coal fields to various Thermal Power stations and goods and other commodities from Krishnapatnam Port to concerned destinations so as to make a considerable income from these activities. (NSS)