Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100760400800.htm

Andhra Pradesh

‘Garuda Seva’ keeps APSRTC busy

Staff Reporter

1.81 lakh passengers ferried in one day

TIRUPATI: Lord Venkateswara appears to have showered his ‘divine blessing’ on the APSRTC on Sunday when his favourite ritual ‘Garuda Seva’ was observed.

APSRTC has always been a major beneficiary of the Tirumala Brahmotsavam and it has been amply proved this year too. The corporation ferried an unbelievable 1.81 lakh passengers on a single day i.e., from Saturday midnight to Sunday midnight in 520 buses, which made 4,980 trips up and down the two ghat roads.

Bus every minute

Against the rate of three buses every two minutes, the RTC plied a bus a minute on the D-Day. A total of 6.83 lakh passengers were transported in 18,300 trips during the first five days of the annual fete .

APSRTC Managing Director V.Dinesh Reddy, Executive Directors Damodar Das (Operations) and N.Vivekananda (Nellore and Kadapa zones), who arrived here during the ‘Garuda Seva’, congratulated the staff members for the impressive record.