Courtesy new fleet, PRTC earns Rs3-cr profit first time in 10 yrs

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 16

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) recorded an operational profit (revenue minus expenditure) of Rs 3.48 crore in the past six months (from April to September) — the first time in a decade — following the increase in its daily receipt.

It had suffered a loss of Rs 2.78 crore during the corresponding period last year. The reason for loss was several buses had outlived their utility. As a result, many would break down en route. Hence, their occupancy had decreased.

These buses were replaced with new ones in the past one-and-a-half years. This, the PRTC says, made the turnaround possible.

The outlived buses covered about 250 km per day, while the new ones often cover about 400 km. With the replacement of buses, the PRTC took a step forward in achieving their daily sanctioned mileage of 3.5 lakh km. Earlier, PRTC buses were covering about 3.3 lakh km.

The PRTC has 1,050 buses — still short by 25 buses in its sanctioned fleet.

Another reason for the profits, an official said, was the authorities had come down heavily on employees who defaulted on tickets. The authorities nabbed drivers and conductors who would not issue tickets to passengers in spite of taking money and fined them. Many of these employees were suspended.

KK Sharma, PRTC chairman, credited the staff members for the profits, claiming they worked in unison to bail out the public utility.

“After the replacement of buses, people’s confidence in the PRTC has been restored. The occupancy of buses has increased by about 20 per cent, raising our daily receipt by more than Rs 20 lakh. This is a boost for the organisation,” he added.