The Telangana State Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has been grappling with an ageing fleet but is likely to finalise procurement of new buses, a tender for which was released in April this year, by the end of the week.
Data shows that the transport juggernaut has around 9,480 buses. The number includes hire buses.
In response to the tender, Ashok Leyland and TATA had submitted their bids. The bids were for 630 Super Luxury non-AC buses and 16 sleeper coaches, and 370 bus chassis.
After the submission of tenders in May, TSRTC had a negotiation meeting with the bidders last month. This led to a revision of prices quoted by them. The TSRTC is likely to reach a decision by the end of the week.
“We are looking into the bids but have not taken a final decision. We will finalise the matter in two or three days,” Managing Director V C Sajjanar said.
Several TSRTC vehicles have either either crossed the phasing out threshold, or are close to the end of their shelf life of either 15 years of being in use or running 13 lakh km.
According to data, by the end of March this year, as many as 597 buses from the Greater Hyderabad Zone were approved for being scrapped. In total, 926 buses across regions were to have met the same fate.
Data also suggests that there was no budget plan to procure buses in FYs 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. The last time buses were bought was in FY 2018-19, when only 16 buses were bought.
In a separate development, the TSRTC’s occupancy ratio showed significant improvement. On July 3 the occupancy ratio recorded in the GHZ was over 79%. As compared to corresponding period last year, the increase was was 9%.
Similarly, on July 4, several depots recorded over 100% occupancy. These include the Farooqnagar, Hayatnagar 1 Jeedimetla, and Medchal depots.
