Andhra RTC shines!

People in Andhra Pradesh always looked up to the  bus services in Tamil Nadu. Tamilnadu has a huge network of good roads, large number of private players running the local transport, low cost fares and deep penetration to all rural areas...  well, that was the story of Tamil Nadu. Now it is a story of missed opportunities. 

Andhra Pradesh systematically built its infra in bus stations with amenities like toilets, shops, eateries, police, luggage movement facility etc. On the other hand, Tamilnadu never built any infra. Most its bus stations are open spaces with filth and stench. Few bus stations like Trichy, Madurai, Dindugal are filthy with people openly defecating everywhere. CMBT has some sense of logic and order, but again sanitation, hygiene of the food sold there is certainly not fit for human consumption. Traders are exploitative and the officials take their cut and choose to look the other way. A sense of pride in cleanliness and hygiene is absent in Tamilnadu. 

The private omni bus stand is a ocean of filth and garbage. Even the private carries which run fancy Volvo services have no pride in what they do. Their interest in their work ends the moment that sell the ticket. All the en route stops are dumps where food and water in not fit for human consumption and sanitation is non existent. It is a living torture in hell for any woman travelling in these buses. 

APSRTC has played a predatory role in taking up all the business in inter state transport from Tamilnadu. The Northern border towns of Tamilnadu are served better by APSRTC. There are more inter-state buses from Andhra to Chennai and Vellore than vice versa. Only one or two Tamilnadu buses venture into the other States.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have moved up the value chain and run long distance Volvo buses. Volvo services run by APSRTC travel from Chennai to Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam faster than the much fancied express and mail trains. In a latest move operators from Hyderabad  are running a Volvo service to Coimbatore and Trivandrum! These buses are fully booked fifteen days in advance!! 

Tamilnadu air conditioned buses are famously called "bhoot banglow bus" and they operate predominantly on Chennai-Bangalore sector. The service is so pathetic that it is simply enough to say that one should avoid this bus instead of writing a para about it. 

 Once respected Tamilnadu bus services have gone into a shell.  Can they redefine themselves?