The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) rolled out measures to increase awareness of its advance ticket reservation service on WhatsApp at 95523 00009 (’Mana Mitra’), in both Telugu and English.
Corporation’s Executive Director (Operations) A. Appala Raju issued instructions to the District Public Transport Officers to promote the process. They have been asked to display banners at bus stations, reservation counters, enquiry counters and other prominent locations within bus stations, display stickers inside buses, make announcements through the public address system, and widely publicise the corporations new service.
Pointing to the facility currently available through the “Mana Mitra-WhatsApp” governance initiative launched by the government, Mr. Appala Raju said it can be operated through a few simple steps. Save the WhatsApp number “95523 00009” or scan the provided QR code and send a “Hi” message on WhatsApp, select “Choose Service”, select “APSRTC Services”, select “Ticket Booking”, enter journey details and passenger information, make payment using the available online payment options and receive your confirmed ticket directly on WhatsApp, he said.
The State Transport Corporation currently issues advance ticket reservation through multiple authorised channels such as “B2C franchises” like RedBus, AbhiBus, Paytm, and Authorised Ticket Booking (ATB) agents.
Though the ticket-booking facility was made available through WhatsApp, it has been observed that use of this facility is very low among passengers due to lack of awareness. The APSRTC, therefore, decided to publicise this mode through wide publicity.
Published – December 16, 2025 08:57 pm IST
