The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is faced with, on one hand, its ageing fleet that needs an infusion of 2,828 new buses, and, on the other, a majority of its losses are coming from ordinary bus services.
According to official documents, the requirement of new buses is a result of over 690 ordinary buses being older than 15 years, or having run more than 13 lakh km, a rule of thumb which indicates the replacement age.
Similarly, Palle Velugu buses that have run more than 12 lakh km are due for replacement. The number of such buses is pegged at 903. Also, there are 580 Super Luxury buses which need to be replaced. These have run over 7.5 lakh km. The total cost component, which includes new buses, body fabrication, cost of new chassis, and other work, for this is ₹ 662.61 crore.
The documents show that a proposal has been made to buy as many as 418 buses. These, however, do not include ordinary buses but are sleeper coaches, Super Luxury, and others. Budget estimates of ₹189.73 crore have been prepared for procurement.
For the past few years, the transport juggernaut has been grappling with a shrinking fleet, and inadequate procurement. While there was a need of over 1,200 buses, only 377 were bought in FY 2017-18, and 16 the subsequent year. No buses have been procured since FY 2019-20. As compared to other cities, such as Bengaluru, the numbers are low.
While the pandemic and the lockdown wreaked havoc with the TSRTC’s revenues, the series of unlocks have not led to pre-pandemic occupancy ratios. The transport juggernaut is still making efforts to woo passengers and has embarked on a series of measures to encourage the public to travel in its buses.
An internal document, which was issued in the last week of January, shows that the transport juggernaut last year incurred a loss of ₹1,718 crore. The percentage loss incurred by ordinary services stood at over 62%. The document states that approximately 172 buses could not break even in terms of fuel cost.
To deal with this, the TSRTC has put in place standard operating procedures. These include operating buses on time, closely monitoring routes, at least once a week, and analysing reasons for low earnings per km for bus services. If all fails, as a last resort, bus services will be cancelled.
