Punjab Roadways is all set to acquire 100 new busses to its fleet and replace the old ones. According to sources, there were a number of Punjab Roadways buses that have outlived their life. These buses cannot do more than 250 kilometres per day and that has taken quite a hit at the revenue of PRTC. The new busses that will be bought by the PRTC (Punjab roadways) will be able to run 400 kilometres a day and thus will help in bringing more money to the department. The Punjab Roadways was established in 1948 with a fleet of just 13 busses. The PRTC had a total of 2400 busses in the year 1985.
Details of the new 100 busses that will become a part of the PRTC Fleet:
The contract for the fabrication of these busses will be rolled out for companies on the 2nd of November, 2017. The new busses will replace the 88 busses in Punjab Roadways fleet that have outlived their life. Some of the new 100 busses will be a part of the 70km scheme busses of PRTC. The Punjab Roadways fleet stands at a total of 1050 busses after they have added 150 new busses over the course of two years. The PRTC has acquired a loan from various banks to acquire these busses.
PRTC really needs these busses to make profits:
The Punjab Roadways (PRTC) has been operating on losses for the last ten years and is a huge burden for the Punjab Government. The PRTC saw a profit of 3.48 crores in the last six months which was the first time the Punjab Roadways earned some profit in over a decade. In the same period last year the PRTC, however, was operating at a loss of 2.78 crores which became a matter of huge embarrassment to the authorities of Punjab. Manjit Singh Narang (Managing Director of PRTC) said that they are aiming at increasing their mileage to 3.5 lakh kilometres a day which is currently at 3.2 lakhs per day. The Punjab Roadways busses used to break down quite often which made it impossible for the PRTC to make some revenue for the company.
Source: Tribune
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