APSRTC resumes services on select routes

Vijayawada/ Visakhapatnam: Giving a big relief to lakhs of bus passengers, the APSRTC has started bus services in select routes in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The buses had hit the roads after a gap of six months.

While in Vijayawada, 127 buses were operated in areas like Bandar Road, Ibrahimpatnam, Gannavaram and Gudivada. The RTC operated the following services, PNBS to Mylavaram, KR Market to Pamarru-Vuyyur, PNBS to Hanuman Junction, City terminal to Gannavaram, Pandit Nehru Bus Station to Telaprolu, Kabela to Auto Nagar.

In Visakhapatnam, 127 buses were run on experimental basis in Gajuwaka, Simhachalam, Pendurthi, Bheemunipatnam, Anakapalle, Achutapuram and Sabbavaram plied on Saturday.

It is expected that the resumption of services may give big boost to trading activity also because customers from suburban areas up to 30 to 40 km can come to Vijayawada by buses for the shopping.

The RTC has implemented the Covid rules strictly and allow only 50 per cent of the passengers to travel that too sitting only. Only one person was allowed to sit instead of two in the seats. Drivers and Conductors in Vijayawada were seen wearing masks while in Visakhapatnam no passenger was allowed to board the bus without a mask.

However, the occupancy ratio was very less on the first day. In fact, there was no information about the resumption of the city services in advance. The resumption of services has come as a big relief to the passengers who were otherwise depending on autorickshaws and shared autos and other mode of transport spending huge amounts. It also poses risk of contracting Covid 19, they said.

K Vijay Kumar, a passenger at the Challapalli bungalow in Vijayawada, said he was delighted to see the city services on the road. He said everyday lakhs of people from surrounding villages come to Vijayawada for various purposes. Public transport would help them a lot.

Many people have been using own vehicles since lockdown. They were living with cut in salaries and bearing the burden of rising cost of petrol. With the resumption of public transport, they heaved a sigh of relief.

The services would be increased from Sunday. The officials are collecting information regarding the occupancy ratio and the number of buses would be increased in a phased manner. In Vijayawada alone, the RTC operates 490 services per day.