Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has made it clear that free bus travel to women should be implemented from August 15 even if it is financially burdensome. He instructed officials to operate buses according to occupancy to avoid any inconvenience caused by the free bus travel provided to women.
The CM has instructed officials to introduce EV AC buses in the RTC from now on. He reviewed the free bus travel scheme for women with officials at the Undavalli camp office. The CM suggested that steps should be taken to increase the number of buses in the state, for this, new buses should be purchased or rented if necessary.
He directed officials to install GPS for every bus that is introduced in the RTC from now on. He also directed officials to study the possibilities of converting the existing buses into EVs and to increase the revenue sources of the RTC in order to overcome financial difficulties.
He said that in order to focus on how to reduce costs and generate revenue through other means, the CM should ensure that the toilets in the bus complex are kept clean and that the satisfaction of the passengers is increased.
The CM suggested that the issue of reducing the maintenance cost of RTC buses with the battery swapping method be examined. He ordered proposals on how much it would cost to purchase and maintain buses like diesel, EV, CNG, battery swiping. He wanted to examine which method would reduce the cost like battery, without battery, operating service stations by private companies, and operating buses.
Chandrababu wanted to estimate how much maintenance cost would be reduced if the RTC itself could generate power and use EV buses. 2,536 buses, Rs.996 crore cost: Officials have concluded that an additional 2,536 buses are required for the implementation of the new scheme. It is expected that this will cost Rs.996 crore.
He said that the total population of the state is 5.25 crore, of which 2.62 crore are women, and the number of women travelling in Palle Velugu, Ultra Palle Velugu and city buses is currently 43.06 crore per year. Officials explained to the CM that after the implementation of the free bus travel scheme, that number could increase to 75.51 crore.
The current number of women travelling in express and metro express buses is 6.85 crore and it is estimated that it could increase to 13.39 crore after the implementation of the scheme. Officials said that in total, women can travel 88.90 crore times in a year with the free bus scheme.
