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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
Srikanth Aluri | TNN

Andhra Pradesh: 4,000 special RTC buses for Dasara rush

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will run 4,000 special buses to clear festive rush before and after Dasara.

While 1,800 buses will be deployed before the festival, 2,200 buses will cater to passengers after Dasara.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire festive season was washed out in 2020 whereas APSRTC operated more than 4,600 buses during 2019. This year, as the Covid-19 cases continue to decline and the situation is largely under control, the APSRTC is anticipating huge rush and planning to operate as many buses as possible.

The Hyderabad route will get the maximum number of buses as usual. As many as 1,383 buses will be operated to and from Hyderabad before and after the festival. Apart from Hyderabad, the APSRTC is planning 277 special buses from Bengaluru and 97 buses will be operated from Chennai. The remaining 2,243 buses will be operated between the major cities within Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, vice- chairman and managing director (VC&MD) of APSRTC, Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, said that the ticket prices in special services have been fixed at 1.5 times to the normal ticket prices. “APSRTC has been facing criticism for higher ticket prices since long but we appeal passengers to understand the practical difficulties being faced by us,” he said.

Explaining the reason behind higher prices, Tirumala Rao said that the special buses will have to travel empty on one side with zero revenues. “With the present prices of diesel, we have to charge extra to meet the expenditure,” he said.

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