APSRTC calls tenders for 659 hire buses

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has invited tenders to operate 659 hired buses to various destinations. The RTC, which suffered huge losses due to the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021, has decided to operate hire buses instead of purchasing new ones, which is very expensive and cause burden.

The corporation on Wednesday invited tenders from the interested parties to operate 659 services. Tenders are invited for 9 AC sleeper services, 47 AC sleeper, 6 Indra AC services, 46 super luxury, 22 ultra deluxe, 70 express, 208 ultra Pallevelugu, 203 Pallevelugu, 39 metro express and nine city ordinary services.

The interested parties can take part in the bids by logging to MSTC e-commerce portal. The district wise details of the buses are as follows: Srikakulam 39, Parvathipuram Manyam 32, Vizianagaram 14, Visakhapatnam 61, Anakapalli 22, Kakinada 41, East Godavari 27, Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema 39, West Godavari 52, Eluru 21, Krishna 28, NTR district 12, Guntur 26, Palnadu 30, Bapatla 6, Prakasam 10, Nellore 39, Tirupati 35, Chittoor 2, Annamayya 10, YSR 6, Nandyala 29, Kurnool 14, Anantapur 31 and Sri Satya Sai district 33. The total services are 659 buses. The RTC has announced that the bids can be submitted from July 6, 2022 and they will be closed by 5 pm on July 27, 2022. Reverse auction commences from 10 am on August 5 till 4 pm on August 6.

This is the second time the RTC has invited tenders for hire services in big number. Earlier, it invited tenders on May 4, 2022 for 998 hire buses. Due to increasing cost of operations with skyrocketing diesel prices and other maintenance expenses, the RTC has decided to operate hire buses in some routes. Purchasing new buses also has became a burden for the corporation.

The RTC has earlier announced that the objective of hiring buses is to provide better services and the interests of people is the top priority for it. The RTC owns around 8,900 buses. It invited tenders for 998 hire buses in May 2022 and again for 659 buses on Wednesday.