Ayyappa devotees fill TSRTC coffers

Hyderabad: Devotees of Lord Ayyappa who travel to Sabarimala have proved to be a boon to TSRTC. The devotees hired about 400 buses during November 2015 which fetched TSRTC about Rs 44 crore.

The corporation introduced special hire rates for these buses. According to RTC officials, in Hyderabad region, 86 buses were booked and the corporation received Rs 10.32 lakh.

Similarly, in Charminar region 112 buses were booked and Rs 10.86 lakh was received, in Secunderabad 95 buses were booked and revenue generated was Rs 8.68 lakh, in Sanathnagar region 101 buses were booked and amount received was Rs 14.36 lakh.

Greater Hyderabad Zone executive director A Purushottam Naik said that the corporation revised the special hire rates and special hire terms and conditions to suit the needs of the devotees. The corporation with huge fleet and wide variety of buses, reliability, and safety succeeded to attract the public towards hiring TSRTC buses, officials said.

Naik said that the Greater Hyderabad Zone at present operates 3,520 schedules with 42,698 trips from 28 depots and logs 9.73 lakh kilometres everyday to transport about 33 lakh passengers in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Purushottam Naik said that hour wise slab rates were fixed to suit those who want to hire buses for lesser distance to have an edge over the private operators, the caution deposit amount was fixed which can be refunded within 48 hours, said Naik.

He said that pick up/drop facility was also introduced to make travel easy. Engaging city ordinary and Metro Express services on special hire basis and the special hire charges fixed include- for two hours Rs 3,000 (for 40 km- City ordinary), Rs 3,500 for Metro Express.

By K Chandrashekar