MTC fetches Rs 165 crore this summer

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The searing summer has been a cool ride for the city’s public transport provider MTC, which has had ticket earnings of more than Rs 165 crore in the last two months.

On May 31, the collections, for the first time, touched Rs 3.05 crore. With the mercury soaring up to 42 degree Celsius, commuters preferred AC buses, resuulting in the average revenue of these Volvo buses going up by 30 per cent compared to the previous months in 2012.

Officials are elated that the trend of high earning persists because of the admission season in schools and colleges.

“MTC’s daily collections had gone up by several lakhs of rupees per day during the last two months. The average daily collection during April had increased to Rs 2.60 crore from the previous months’ collection of Rs 2.59 crore.

The average collection per day in May had shot up to Rs 2.77 crore, taking the monthly collections to a whopping Rs 87 crore,” sources in MTC told DC.The earnings during April were around Rs 78 crore.

Officials insisted that the increase in the number of passengers during summer is not a new scenario, adding that the later part of May witnessed a huge surge because of the fuel shortage in the city as people preferred MTC over private vehicles.

During those five days, daily collections went up to Rs 2.99 crore, `22 lakh more than that month’s average daily earning.

The highest per day collection — barring Kanum Pongal days’ Rs 3.09 crore — was Rs 3.05 crore, on May 31, they pointed out.

As usual, AC buses of which MTC has 100 were a huge hit during summer and the response was better than during previous summers, as collections shot up even as the mercury soared.

The average daily collections went up to Rs17,500 per AC bus in May, taking the monthly collection to Rs 5.25 crore from Rs 4.2crore (Rs 14,000 per day) in March and April’s Rs 4.7 crore (Rs 15,700). The average per day collection had ranged from Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000 last summer.