Vijayawada RTC Smashes Cargo Revenue Records
The Vijayawada Zone of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has achieved a remarkable financial milestone, posting record-breaking earnings from its cargo shipment services. By October of this year, the zone had already generated an impressive Rs 120 crore in revenue, decisively surpassing the total revenue of Rs 114 crore earned in the entire previous financial year. Authorities are optimistic, projecting that the total revenue will exceed Rs 140 crore by the end of the current fiscal year.
Strategic Deployment in Market Areas Fuels Growth
Officials credit this significant revenue jump to a strategic shift in operations. The RTC has begun deploying its goods vehicles directly at market areas, where farmers can make bulk bookings to transport their agricultural produce. This initiative has been particularly successful for perishable items. An RTC official explained that this direct-to-market approach has been a game-changer, with the bulk of agricultural bookings, especially for goods like bananas and coconuts, originating from the Godavari districts.
Vijayawada: The Commercial Hub Driving Parcel Bookings
The surge in revenue is not limited to bulk agricultural transport. The official further elaborated that there has been a substantial increase in individual parcel bookings as well. The Vijayawada region stands as the primary contributor, accounting for the majority of parcel bookings within the zone. As a major commercial hub, the city alone registers approximately 3,000 bookings per day out of a daily total of 10,000 bookings across the entire Vijayawada zone. Within this region, NTR district leads in the number of overall cargo bookings.
To manage this growing demand and improve customer experience, the RTC is taking proactive steps. Authorities have initiated plans to increase the number of cargo booking counters at the bustling Vijayawada bus station. "Currently, the bus station has two counters. To ensure that people don't wait for a long time in the queue, we will add more counters besides developing other amenities at the booking counters," the official added. The scale of operations is evident from the data, which shows that the Vijayawada bus station alone accounts for Rs 7 lakh in cargo revenue every single day.
