Over 1.2 crore passengers travelled in TSRTC buses between Jan 11-14

Compared to last year, this year almost 5 lakh more passengers chose to travel in RTC buses, Managing Director, TSRTC, VC Sajjanar on Monday said.

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has created record of sorts by enabling 1.21 crore passengers to safely reach their destinations and celebrate Sankranti festival between January 11 and 14. In the process of transporting 1.21 crore passengers to their destinations, the RTC buses travelled about 1.57 crore kilometres in four days.

Compared to last year, this year almost 5 lakh more passengers chose to travel in RTC buses, Managing Director, TSRTC, VC Sajjanar on Monday said. The top RTC official congratulated the staff for ensuring safe journey of passengers and urged them to be alert while people travel back to Hyderabad in the next few days.

To meet the extra demand during Sankranti, a total of 3,203 special buses were operated between January 11 and 14 by TSRTC. Earlier, the RTC had planned to operate 2,384 buses but due to extra demand and congestion, an additional 819 buses were added later. “Instead of waiting for hours at the toll plazas, special lanes were arranged this time, which helped passengers to reach their destinations quickly,” Sajjanar said.

Senior RTC officials familiar with the Sankranti travel arrangements expect that citizens who travelled to their homes for Sankranti are expected to start returning to Hyderabad from Tuesday. To meet this demand, about 3,000 special buses have been arranged, they added.

About 212 special buses from different cities in Andhra Pradesh including Vijayawada (54), Visakhapatnam (19), Amalapuram (23), Srikakulam (9), Eluru (11), Rajahmundry (12), Guntur (29), Bapatla (5), Cheerala (7), Machilipatnam (5), Gudivada (6), Tenali (4), Razole (9) will be operated between Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The next two to three months are very crucial for TSRTC and all officers have been ordered to work accordingly,” senior officials added.

TSRTC Chief Operation Officer V. Ravinder, Regional Managers, Deputy Regional Managers, Depot Managers and others were present in the meeting.