Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to increase Road Transport Corporation fares by 20 paisa per kilometre will ironically help the Andhra Pradesh government get additional revenue as the APSRTC runs buses from Hyderabad to places in AP such as Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, and Tirupati, as also to Chennai, Bengaluru and other places outside the state.
Since the APSRTC has not increased its fares, it will be the cheaper alternative. Depending on the distance and bus service, there will be a difference of Rs 50 to Rs 100 per ticket between the TSRTC and the APSRTC.
People in Telangana state and particularly people in Hyderabad are expected to prefer the APSRTC. The occupancy rate in APSRTC will increase and this may affect the TSRTC’s revenue, though Mr Rao said the increased fare will fetch TSRTC additional revenue of around `750 core per year.
APSRTC vice-chairman and managing director M Krishna Babu said that as of now there is no proposal to increase bus fares. He told this newspaper that according to an interstate agreement, in a particular state RTC buses of another state cannot charge less than what that state’s bus service charges.
He said accordingly APSRTC will have to charge the same fare as TSRTC does for its service in Telangana state. So, for example, in buses running between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, Kakinada or Visakhapatnam, APSRTC will have to collect the same fare as TSRTC up to Kodada, the border between Telangana and AP. From Kodada to other places in AP, APSRTC will charge what it normally does.
In the same way, APSRTC buses from AP to Hyderabad will charge the usual fare up to Kodada and from Kodada to Hyderabad or any other place in Telangana, it will charge what TSRTC does. This will help the AP government to get additional revenue without having to increase bus fares.
