The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is ready with a contingency plan to tackle any potential diesel shortage in the future.
Senior officials said that though there is no shortage of diesel at present and operations are running normally, as a precautionary measure, the corporation has chalked out a strategy to rationalise services if the situation worsens.
“There is no shortage of diesel for our buses. Our own oil depots are getting refilled normally. However, we have a contingency plan ready if any shortages happen,” Anil Kumar, general manager, said.
Under the plan, UPSRTC may curtail up to 30% of its fleet, primarily targeting routes and services considered unproductive. The move is aimed at ensuring that essential and high-demand routes continue to function without disruption.
“We can easily curtail the fleet by 25-30% without putting passengers to any convenience,” Kumar said, pointing out that there were some long-distance routes where there was overlapping of services with poor bus load factor making operations of many buses unproductive.
The corporation currently operates a fleet of around 14,000 buses across the state, catering around 20 lakh passengers daily. Officials maintained that passenger convenience would remain a priority, even if service rationalisation becomes necessary in the event of diesel shortage.