PNS|Vijayawada
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Managing Director Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao has said that the corporation has decided to expand its services and introduce special packages to spiritual centres in the State. RTC is already operating services to various tourist and famous pilgrimage centres during the festival season, he said.
“The special services operated to pilgrimage centres besides Pancharamalu received overwhelming response from the passengers. So, RTC has decided to operate more special bus services and implement special packages,” said RTC MD Dwaraka Tirumala Rao in a press release here on Wednesday.
He said that the RTC was contemplating running special services to the pilgrimage centres, and implementing special packages for famous temples and other tourist places. RTC is operating special services to various places during festivals like Dasara, Karthika, Sivarathri and others festivals, he said.
He said the RTC was holding discussions with the Tourism Department to provide accommodation facilities for the passengers travelling under the special package. Based on the demand from the bus passengers, the RTC would operate the special services from various places in the State, he added.
He said though many buses were operated, there were no special packages for these places. The APSRTC would appoint tourist guides to help the passengers and explain the history and other information about the temples. He said buses were more convenient compared to trains for visiting temples and other tourist places.
Further, he said the RTC had started Seegradarshan tickets for the passengers who travel between Tirupati and Tirumala. Sparsa Darshan tickets would be introduced for the passengers who visited Srisailam temple, he said. Bus passengers from various parts of the State and country visited the historical and famous temples and pilgrimage centres like Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, Tiruchanur Padmavathi Ammavari temple, Kanipakam Vinayaka temple, Siva temples in Sri Kalahasti, Sri Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada and Annavaram Satyanarayana temple, he said.
Meanwhile, he said that bus passengers could visit more places in less time compared to train passengers. The RTC operated special bus services to Sabarimala in Kerala and about 225 bus services were operated in the last year.
He said that this year, the RTC introduced 156 bus services to Arunachalam in Tamil Nadu and received good response.
