APSRTC - A shining example of market driven public sector organization

It is fashionable to talk about private sector as paragons of virtue and public sectors as the slow coaches dragging the economy backward. But certain public sector organizations stand out as examples of what can be done if the top management has a vision. One such excellent marketing organization is APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation). Given below are some very surprising and innovative marketing schemes of APSRTC.

CAT Card: Concessional Annual Travel (CAT) Card". The cost of the card is Rs.200 (around 5 US $). The card holder will get concession of 10% on fare and additional compensation of Rs.1.50 Lakh (3,750 US $) (accident benefit) for the first time buyers and in case of repeat buyers it is Rs.2 lakhs (5,000 US $).

JHT & IJHT (Jubilee Hi-tech & Inter-State Jubilee Hi-tech Tickets):  which are (valid for 7 days) to travel anywhere in Andhra Pradesh. The tickets are JHT for Intra-state travel and IJHT for inter-state travel. The tariff of Jubilee Express Ticket is Rs.700/- (17.5 US $) for adults and Rs.350/- (8.75 US $) for child and Inter-state Jubilee Hi-tech Ticket is Rs.1100/- (27.5 US $)for adults and Rs. 550/- (13.75 US $) for children.

TREATS (Travel Regularly and Earn an Additional (free) Trip Scheme):  targets frequent travellers. Under this scheme, a member of frequent traveller programme will be extended a free trip after performing 5 single trips in a period of 60 days, thus, giving a concession of 16.66%.

‘Travel as You Like' Tickets & holiday Tickets: valid on city and suburban routes are issued to the General commuters in cities / towns where City/Town / Suburban services are under operation. These tickets are issued in two types viz., Ordinary and Metro Travel As You Like Tickets entitling the holders to perform unrestricted travel by all services operating in that city / town for that day.

Link Ticket System/Return Journey Ticket:  Facility to Tirumala & Tirupati ( the richest and one of the most busy pilgrimage centre in the world): To avoid waiting in queue for purchase of tickets on reaching Tirumala, the system of link tickets (Rs.24/- (0.6 US $)for adults and Rs.12/- ( 0.3 US $) for children) has been introduced. These tickets are available at all the advance reservation counters and with the service conductors of Tirupati bound services. Similarly, both up & down journeys can be purchased for Tirupati to Tirumala in the up journey itself.

Student passes in Cities/Towns: The students studying in the colleges located in cities / towns are issued with slab rated quarterly route bus passes for a minimum slab of 4 KMs. to 22 KMs. maximum.

Special general bus tickets: APSRTC is also issuing Special Monthly General bus tickets in cities / towns to the students who are studying Job Oriented Courses. These bus passes are priced a little higher than the tariff charged to other regular students.

Exclusive trips to special schools/colleges: APSRTC operates exclusive buses to special schools/ colleges, where the number of students utilizing the facility is not less than 60. This facility is available both in cities / towns and in rural areas.

Physically challenged Bus passes: APSRTC also issues bus passes to the Physically challenged, mentally retarded, blind, deaf & dumb persons to travel free by the buses operating in cities / towns.

Monthly general bus tickets: These passes are issued in three categories viz., Ordinary, Metro Liner, Metro Express validating the holders of the pass to perform unrestricted journeys by the services applicable for which it is valid and operating in that city / town. The holders of superior class of bus passes viz., Metro Liner General bus ticket holders are allowed to travel by other inferior class of services viz., Metro Express,

Bus passes to NGO's.: the NGOs i.e., Govt. employees are being issued Monthly General bus passes for travel by the city / suburban services operating in these cities to enable them to attend to their duties

Free bus passes to youth attending interviews: Youth attending interviews conducted by the Government agencies like APPSC, DSC and State owned Public Sector Undertakings are issued "to & fro" free bus pass.

MLA's (Member of legislative Assembly their spouses and MP's (Member of Parliament): APSRTC allows all the MLA's., their spouses and MP's hailing from the A.P. to travel free by all its services.

Freedom fighters of Andhra Pradesh: APSRTC issues bus passes to all the Freedom Fighters of Andhra Pradesh who crossed 65 years of age and receiving pension either from the Government of Andhra Pradesh or from the Central Government.

Employees children: As a welfare measure to the employees of APSRTC, all the children of the employees of APSRTC studying in schools / colleges are extended all types of student bus passes at an additional concession of 75 % over the rates of bus passes charged to other students.

Hail & Board: All the village bound buses will be stopped wherever the passengers hail with an intention to board the bus.

Request and Alight: All the buses will be stopped on request at the passenger's convenient place en-route to alight

Amazing isn’t it! And to think that APSRTC is in the public sector. But APSRTC is definitely market driven. APSRTC has GPS systems, FM radio facility on many buses, and has a fairly good safety record. It is quite successful in marketing itself as an ideal vehicle for OOH media. It has instant feedback mechanism in the way of display of mobile numbers of depot Managers written right next to the driver. Pallevelugu (Village bound buses) have the entire front part of the bus devoid of any seats to enable villagers to carry their farm produce to the nearest town or village.

The driver is instructed in very plain telugu to press the clutch when changing the gear (written next is the message which says that doing so will increase the mileage and thus increases efficiency). Slogans goading the drivers to increase mileage and save the organization are prominently displayed. The back panel of the bus very proudly says “Journey by APSRTC is safe and secure and journey by private buses, autos, jeeps, tempos, seven seaters are unsafe and hazardous”.