RTC privatisation: Telangana govt may find it hard to attract operators

HYDERABAD: Even as the state government is looking to privatise more than 5,000 bus routes, it may find it difficult to attract private operators for the bid. According to highly placed sources, many private operators told Road Transport Corporation officials that going with current charges of RTC will earn them losses if they have to run the routes and there is need to increase the charges per km at least to 80 paisa.
Taking the example Karimnagar and Hyderabad route, RTC charges Rs 198 per passenger, whereas private operators charge Rs 337, and those who have now taken contract courier service, charge Rs 350 per trip. “If this route is privatised, unless passengers pay Rs 125 extra, the route will not give us anything,” said an operator.
Officials are conducting discussions with the operators to understand the feasibility. Before the high court gave a stay on going ahead with privatising the route, officials had thought of giving notification for about 1,200 routes.
Private operators have their concerns and demands over this. They said diesel and petroleum prices keep increasing, and it will not be easy for them to maintain the same route for the same cost all the time. “We should be able to change the price according to the situation, ideally for every three months,” said a private operator on condition of anonymity. Private operators are also demanding that they should be given opportunity for withdrawing from the route, and there should not be any fine for that.