TSRTC plans parcel service

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which is marching ahead with several innovative schemes for offering better services to commuters, is likely to introduce RTC parcel service.

RTC has 37 per cent of the buses catering to the requirements of interior villages in Telangana where there is no service by private players.

The private organisations have network up to district centres but they do not have connectivity to interior areas which can be advantageous for the RTC.

Talking to The Hans India, a top official of RTC said that the TSRTC has a wide network of services consisting of 10,500 buses connecting over 9,000 villages and this initiative would help in earning about Rs 10 crore annually.

The corporation is working on a two-pronged strategy. One, to provide facility for people to directly book parcels to be transported by RTC and the second option would be to have a tie-up with private players who will transport parcels up to certain points in towns and from there the RTC would move them to the interior villages where private operators have no services.

The corporation had already studied the system that is prevalent in Tamil Nadu where letters and small parcels are transported through State Express Transport Corporation at a nominal charge.

The TRSTC is likely to fix the tariff for parcels based on the weight and the distance they need to be carried. Initially, the officials feel that they should not go in for exclusive cargo services.

Instead, they propose to create some place behind the driver’s seat. Running an exclusive cargo service at this stage would require separate infrastructure like godowns, additional staff and so on.