Guntur: The minimum fare of city bus services has been reduced to '5 in Guntur city to help increase occupancy ratio in APSRTC city buses.
According to the revised fares, Rs 4 would be collected for 2 km, Rs 8 for 4 km and Rs 10 up to 10 km. The share auto-rickshaws collect a minimum fare of '8 and Rs 20 for long distances in the city.
The RTC is operating 53 city bus services in Guntur city and is planning to introduce more city services in the coming days. The RTC authorities also decided to campaign intensively about the reduced fare of city services like in Vijayawada.
The RTC is using modern Metro buses, worth Rs 36 lakh, for city services which are equipped with CCTV cameras, electronic emergency buttons which can be used by the commuters to indicate the driver to stop the bus, automated voice announcement system.
Initially, there as no response to these buses due to limited routes but as the APSRTC increased connectivity and routes, the people gradually began travelling in the city services. The minimum fare was Rs 7 per head, same as that being collected by the private mini buses and auto-rickshaws.
The commuters said a majority of the people travel between 2-4 km for various purposes and reducing the fare of city services will help the public save money if they travel in RTC buses. For the same, the share auto rickshaws collect Rs 7 per head.
They expressed concern that RTC city bus services are not available to old Guntur and adjacent areas where people are forced to travel in auto-rickshaws which are not safe.
RTC Guntur regional manager, G. Shrihari lamented about the poor promotion of RTC city services and hoped the fare reduction would help them attract more passengers and thereby witness increase in occupancy ratio. He said RTC was planning to introduce monthly concession travel cards.
