The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will start operating intra-State buses from Thursday (May 21) in a phased manner.
At a press conference, APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Madireddy Pratap said the first bus would start at 7 a.m. The buses would be operated strictly in adherence to the COVID-19 protocol, he added.
The APSRTC buses will come out of the depots after a gap of 58 days due to the lockdown announced in the wake of the outbreak of the pandemic.
Mr. Pratap said, to begin with, only 70% (1,683) buses would be plied.
He said there was no plan to increase the bus fare, and added that it would take some more time to resume the city services.
Physical distancing
People would also have to wait for inter-State bus services to resume, he said, informing that the number of seats in Super Luxury buses had been reduced to facilitate physical distancing.
In the Palle Velugu and Express services, seats that were not supposed to be used had been marked in red colour.
“Covering one’s face with a mask is mandatory for people boarding the bus. Masks will be sold in the bus stands for ₹10 each. Adequate stocks of sanitisers will also be made available in the bus stands, and passengers should clean their hands before boarding the bus,” he said.
Online sale of tickets
He said tickets for ordinary, Express, Ultra Deluxe and Deluxe buses could be booked only through online mode, and no reservation charges for bookings on a day-to-day basis.
Mr. Pratap said cashless transaction was being planned for a long time. Under this system, people could make digital payment for their tickets using credit card, debit card and Google Pay.
Children under 10 years and senior citizens above 65 years would be allowed to travel only if there was an emergency such as medical reasons, he said.
Mr. Pratap said a few AC buses would be operated because of the heat, but blankets would not be provided in the vehicles.
