APSRTC, ECoR increase passenger services for Dasara

APSRTC district transport commissioner (DTC) G. Satyanarayana told Deccan Chronicle that this year, they are deploying many more buses compared to last year's 195 vehicles. 40 of the 250 buses to be deployed will be run on the Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad route, 60 on the Vizag-Vijayawada segment and the remaining will service various destinations in north Andhra.

The DTC said that based on crowd levels, they will start operating additional buses for the festival from Wednesday. However, he said, the rush is expected to start from October 7, when many more extra buses will be deployed.

On regular days, APSRTC operates around 1,000 buses from Visakhapatnam, with approximately 200 serving Hyderabad and Vijayawada, and 800 dedicated to north Andhra. So much so, that buses from Vizag run to Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, and Parvathipuram every five minutes.

Waltair division of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) is also operating 14 pairs of special trains for transporting passengers heading home for the Dasara, Chhath, and Diwali festivals.

These special trains will cover routes, including from Visakhapatnam to Secunderabad, Tirupati, Bangalore, Araku, MGR Chennai Central and Shalimar. Special services will also operate from Srikakulam Road to Tirupati and Kollam.