The Hindu Business Line : Better vehicle utilisation boosts APSRTC profit

Hyderabad, April 2 The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has reported a profit of Rs 135 crore for 2007-08 financial year against a profit of Rs 40 crore during the previous financial year.

The Corporation for the current financial year expects the profit from operations to be around Rs 250 crore.

“Due to concerted implementation of a set of managerial and operational measures, the Corporation has substantially improved the occupancy ratio to 68 per cent during the last fiscal against 65 per cent in the previous year.

“During March the occupancy ratio touched a new high of 72 per cent,” Mr V. Dinesh Reddy, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, APSRTC, said while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday.

He added that the ridership has also increased to 1.34 crore passengers a day as against 1.28 crore during the previous fiscal. Mr Reddy attributed the rise in the profits, which was the highest in the last decade, to better vehicle utilisation as compared to what it was in the past.

Invites tender

The Corporation is also looking at utilising the surplus land it has by developing Commuter Amenity Centres across the State.

“We have already invited tenders for one such Amenity Centre to be located in the city. The cost of the project is around Rs 500 crore and we hope to finalise the tender in the next two weeks. Depending on the success of this project we intend to develop 41 more amenity centres across the city,” Mr Reddy said.

As per the plan of APSRTC, a commuter amenity centre will have an air conditioned bus terminal, shopping centres, ATMs, reservation facilities and multiplexes. “We are also looking at having a multiple level parking system in the centres as it would provide a commuter an option of utilising the public transport service to reach his destination,” he said.

Looking ahead

According to Mr Reddy, if all the projects were successfully implemented this year, then the Corporation’s accumulated loss of Rs 1,398 crore would be wiped out by the end of the current financial year. “Once the accumulated losses are wiped out then we intend to go in for a public issue. However, it is too early to comment on the size of the issue that we are looking at,” Mr Reddy said.

Speaking on the plans for the current year, he said that the Corporation plans to introduce 100 semi-low floor buses in the city and upgrade 50 metro deluxe busses in the city with features like day light viewable LED destination boards and improved interiors.

“We are also looking at vertical utilisation of space by having Amenity Centres at bus stations in B and C class towns across the State, which would also help in generating more revenue. Also we plan to introduce a system of anywhere to anywhere online bus ticket reservation,” Mr Reddy said.

More Stories on : Roadways | Financial Performance | Andhra Pradesh

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Better vehicle utilisation boosts APSRTC profit