Rajahmundry: The APSRTC will launch cargo service in a full-fledged manner from Saturday midnight across the state and neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with an expectation to earn revenue of about Rs 300 crore per annum. Earlier, the APSRTC had a tie-up with Hyderabad-based Alloy Nitrides Limited (ANL) to run ANL Parcel Service. Now, the lease period with ANL is over and the APSRTC intends to run the cargo service on its own.
The APSRTC used to earn revenue of Rs 36 crore, while ANL earned about Rs 9 crore per annum. However, the APSRTC authorities have set up a huge profit margin worth Rs 300 crore per annum. But, RTC sources said they would be happy if they can earn Rs 100 crore in the first year. The APSRTC authorities said those who want to avail of the cargo service would have to arrive at the local RTC bus station and hand over the parcel with the delivery address and contact number. After the bus reaches the destination bus station, RTC staff would call up the customer to reach the bus station and collect the parcel. There is no door collection and delivery of cargo at present. In case of destinations located in small towns, the RTC authorities will accept the cargo and call up the customer in advance asking him to arrive at a particular spot minutes before the bus passes by to collect the parcel. They said they were also accepting cargo to be delivered in Chennai and Bengaluru.
The cargo tariff rates are relatively low when compared to private courier services. A software to allow online tracking of cargo for the benefit of customers is being developed and will be launched soon. West Godavari RTC regional manager S. Dhanamjaya Rao said, “We are providing cargo parcel service in our RTC buses from Saturday midnight on our own all over state and other places and advise the people to avail of our service as it is cheap, safe and prompt.”
