PRTC to get 100 buses soon

Gagan Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 30

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) is all set to add 100 buses to its fleet, replacing the vehicles which have outlived their lives. The corporation will float the tenders for the fabrication of bus bodies on November 2.

The PRTC had planned to add 150 new Km-Scheme buses and 100 buses of its own by taking bank loan as it had not added any Km-Scheme bus last year. While 88 self-owned buses of the PRTC have outlived their lives, as many as 70 Km-Scheme buses too need replacement.

Notably, the PRTC has a sanctioned fleet of 1,075 buses but it currently has only 1,050 buses after addition of 150 new buses in a half and one year. 

With this, the corporation nears its target of daily sanctioned mileage of 3.50 lakh km. Earlier, the PRTC was covering about 3.20 lakh km per day. The replacement of buses has been done to achieve the target as the old buses were being run only for about 250 km per day whereas the new buses cover around 400 km.

Now, the PRTC expects a rise in its revenue that had fallen in the operational profit category. The authorities have finally seen operational profit of Rs 3.48 crore in the past six months, a first in a decade.

The corporation has recorded an operational profit of Rs 3.48 crore between April 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017, whereas it suffered a loss of Rs 2.78 crore during this period last year. The major reason behind this was a large number of old buses that often witnessed breakdown during journeys, resulting in a decrease in occupancy.

PRTC managing director Manjit Singh Narang said the corporation was doing its best to ensure smooth travelling for passengers. “We will try to get the buses fabricated at the earliest to ensure that our mileage increases,” he added.