By Desaraju Surya
The APSRTC proudly calls it "Flight on Wheels" but the frustrated passengers have started dubbing it "Plight on Wheels."
The most sought-after Garuda (Volvo) bus services of RTC are increasingly testing the patience of passengers as they are seldom operated on time. While "traffic problem" is the simple excuse that RTC authorities cite for the schedules going awry, there are many other factors that are compounding the problem.
In the first place, the buses never come to the platform in time. The drivers are forced to perform multiple roles like ticket-issuing, ticket checking and verification of statistical record. A lot of time is lost in the process delaying the service by a minimum of half an hour.
The bus doesn't leave the bus station as per schedule even if a single passenger fails to make it on time, forcing rest of the passengers to suffer. "This is a bus, not a train. So, we can't miss even a single passenger even if it causes inconvenience to 44 others," an RTC official argued.
When Volvo buses were introduced, only drivers specially trained by the bus manufacturer used to operate the services. With the increase in number of services, even untrained drivers are being deployed for duty, which is also adding to inefficiency in operations.
Recently, the RTC introduced on-line ticket reservation system, which ended up in utter chaos throwing the services haywire. Almost every night service on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada sector got delayed by 60 to 90 minutes as three sets of statistical records had to be verified. "Same seats in the same bus were allotted to different passengers on many occasions. The hapless driver had to sort out the problem by running around officers in the bus stand, delaying the scheduled service by more than an hour," Venkata Raman, a regular traveller on the route pointed out. The troubles would not end at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station as passengers face similar agony even at enroute points like Dilsuknagar, L B Nagar and Vanasthalipuram.
Raghavendra Chandrasekhar, a software professional and frequent traveller to Bengaluru, lamented that the service to Bengaluru never arrived or departed on time. "It was always an agonising wait for the bus at the Volvo lounge. Every trip ended at least one and a half hour behind schedule," he pointed out.
RTC regional manager (Ranga Reddy) Nagaraja Rao attributed the frequent delay in operations to traffic problems. "In 90 per cent of the cases nothing but traffic jams have affected our schedules while in only about 10 per cent of cases there have been staff-related problems," he pointed out. Given the traffic snarls at various points in the city, a Volvo service from Kukatpally was taking about two hours to reach Imlibun bus station. "This alone is eating up travel time and often resulting in inordinate delay in schedules," Nagaraja Rao said.
The APSRTC proudly calls it "Flight on Wheels" but the frustrated passengers have started dubbing it "Plight on Wheels."
The most sought-after Garuda (Volvo) bus services of RTC are increasingly testing the patience of passengers as they are seldom operated on time. While "traffic problem" is the simple excuse that RTC authorities cite for the schedules going awry, there are many other factors that are compounding the problem.
In the first place, the buses never come to the platform in time. The drivers are forced to perform multiple roles like ticket-issuing, ticket checking and verification of statistical record. A lot of time is lost in the process delaying the service by a minimum of half an hour.
The bus doesn't leave the bus station as per schedule even if a single passenger fails to make it on time, forcing rest of the passengers to suffer. "This is a bus, not a train. So, we can't miss even a single passenger even if it causes inconvenience to 44 others," an RTC official argued.
When Volvo buses were introduced, only drivers specially trained by the bus manufacturer used to operate the services. With the increase in number of services, even untrained drivers are being deployed for duty, which is also adding to inefficiency in operations.
Recently, the RTC introduced on-line ticket reservation system, which ended up in utter chaos throwing the services haywire. Almost every night service on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada sector got delayed by 60 to 90 minutes as three sets of statistical records had to be verified. "Same seats in the same bus were allotted to different passengers on many occasions. The hapless driver had to sort out the problem by running around officers in the bus stand, delaying the scheduled service by more than an hour," Venkata Raman, a regular traveller on the route pointed out. The troubles would not end at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station as passengers face similar agony even at enroute points like Dilsuknagar, L B Nagar and Vanasthalipuram.
Raghavendra Chandrasekhar, a software professional and frequent traveller to Bengaluru, lamented that the service to Bengaluru never arrived or departed on time. "It was always an agonising wait for the bus at the Volvo lounge. Every trip ended at least one and a half hour behind schedule," he pointed out.
RTC regional manager (Ranga Reddy) Nagaraja Rao attributed the frequent delay in operations to traffic problems. "In 90 per cent of the cases nothing but traffic jams have affected our schedules while in only about 10 per cent of cases there have been staff-related problems," he pointed out. Given the traffic snarls at various points in the city, a Volvo service from Kukatpally was taking about two hours to reach Imlibun bus station. "This alone is eating up travel time and often resulting in inordinate delay in schedules," Nagaraja Rao said.
1 comment:
Dear sir,
i can agree with your comments.right now i am coming to the point aps rtc charges for a flight on wheel garuda bus from hyberabad to vijayawada is just 272 Rs only. you check with the other operaters like kesineni ,kaleswari they are chaging 350 rs. their bus starts from the kukat pally at 9.45 pm and from vanastalipuram at 12.00am in the mid night. their journey time is also 8-9 hours.i f u board aps rtc garuda at 1100pm from kphb it leavs l b nagar at 1200am
in this i am explaing you that apsrtc is providing a comfortable journey to pax.some time its giving some minor problems we have to bear with them.
recently i traveled by apsrtc from pune to hyd by garuda at a fare of 617 rs inspite of 1500 rs charged by private operators.
so encourage rtc people to give the better service. if u have any suggestions kindly wirte to that depot manager in sr paper which is avialable with th bus staff.
they will take care about that one
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