COMMUTERS HIT AS TRS ROPES IN 35% BUSES

Thursday wasn’t the best of the days for commuters of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation. Lack of buses and cancellation of services on major corridors and in many colonies made the daily commute miserable for many. Nearly 35 per cent buses in the city were hired and diverted to Warangal for the plenary programme of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

Thursday was not the best of days for commuters of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation. Lack of buses and cancellation of services on major corridors and in many colonies made the daily commute miserable for many. Nearly 35 per cent buses in the city were hired and diverted to Warangal for the plenary programme of Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The RTC’s Greater Hyderabad Zone has 3,779 buses including ordinary, Metro Express, Mero Deluxe, AC and mini. The corporation operates 3,519 buses every day with 42,736 trips covering 9.76 lakh kilometres to serve 32 lakh commuters.

The corporation allotted 1,327 buses to the TRS party's plenary and operated only 2,192 buses on Thursday. Of the 80 scheduled A/C buses, the TRS reserved 75 by paying the RTC. Minister Talasani Srinivas reserved all the 75 A/C buses for transporting party workers, including corporators and key leaders, to Warangal.

The city has about 2,700 A/C bus pass holders and the RTC sent SMS' on Wednesday stating that the A/C buses would not be available on Thursday, followed by an apology. The message advised A/C bus pass holders to work out an alternative for one day.

P.S. Somnath, a techie from Begumpet, said he took the A/C bus pass due to the heat. “I travel from Begumpet to Hitech City. Lack of buses led to a huge problem. We didn't even get regular buses on time,” he said.

An employee from the secretariat said he travels from Vanasthalipuram to Secretariat every day. “On Thursday, the RTC operated another bus which was not in a good condition. The driver said the regular bus was sent to Warangal,” he complained.

A. Purushotham Naik, executive director of RTC’s Greater Zone, said the RTC would not stop renting out buses.

“We earn an average of `7,500 on an ordinary bus per day. We got `14,000 for each bus that was sent to Warangal. We got 45 per cent more income by sending buses to the plenary. We made alternative arrangements for the convenience of commuters,” he said.