APSRTC’s rural services with overcrowded buses have been a cause for concern at a time when the second wave of COVID-19 is fierce in the Chittoor district. This is more noticeable on the routes under the Satyavedu depot in the eastern Mandal.
After the closure, APSRTC buses continued to run on rural routes with limited services to take into account the low occupancy rate. But since the second wave, rural services have been overcrowded. Passengers attribute this to a low frequency of services. The pandemic has also forced people in rural areas to get home early, resulting in some services being overcrowded and the other services being less busy.
The low frequency of rural service between Satyavedu and Tirupati via Nagalapuram and Puttur has resulted in overcrowding in the morning and evening hours. “Although passengers have the option of getting on another bus in a very short time, they prefer to get on the first bus they encounter in order to reach their destinations early,” said Depot Manager (Satyavedu) P. Gangadhar .
The official said the rural services chiefs had been strictly instructed to hold standing passengers and free-riding. “Whenever it’s crowded, the conductors ask passengers to wait for the next bus,” he said.
Apart from a few services, several routes in rural areas were poorly used. This is due to holidays for students in grades 1 to 9 and the closure or partial function of some units in the industrial belt in the eastern mandal.
Meanwhile, several young people from the mandals of Satyavedu, Nagalapuram, Puttur and Nagari travel to Chennai and other border towns in Tamil Nadu to do odd jobs and collect goods for various branches. The disruption of night traffic on the country roads makes it difficult for them to reach their destinations and share cars are not available at night.