Where are the 700 bus shelters?

There are 1699 bus stops in the Greater Hyderabad region, of which only 946 locations have bus shelters. The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) officials blame the ad agencies, who take care of the shelters, for the poor maintenance. Also, for the RTC’s operational viability, a bus has to run 300 km every day. But most buses are only running on an average 235 km, which is increasing the operational costs adversely. The authorities undertook a survey and the findings have been forwarded to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), to be included in the Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS) 2041 policy

Out of 1699 bus stops located in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, bus shelters are provided only at 946 locations. These are maintained by the ad agencies, but the condition of these bus shelters is poor, if not pathetic. There is a need to increase the number of bus shelters. Ad-agencies are not taking interest to provide shelters at all the required places.

The APSRTC officials, in its recommendations to the HMDA has stated that a clear provision regarding bus shelters and their maintenance should be made in the CTS-2041 draft policy.

It is not only the GHMC area, which is short of 700 bus shelters. The HMDA area too has only 41 operational bus shelters out of its designated 147. The RTC authorities have requested the HMDA to set up the bus stops as early as possible.

In the twin cities and sub-urban areas, about 3,800 buses make 42,300 trips covering 10 lakh kilometres, transporting about 35 lakh passengers every day. The authorities state that for the operational viability, every bus has to run 300 km per day. But the statistics with the RTC affirm that on an average a bus only runs 235 km, which is increasing its operational costs. This is attributed to the slow movement of vehicles for almost 8 hours every day.

The sluggish movement has been attributed to the following factors:

• Congestion caused by hawkers and shop owners occupying the road space near traffic junctions and at shopping areas

• Unauthorised parking in front of shops on both sides of the road, blocking about 30ft (15+15ft on either side)

• Authorised parking implemented by the GHMC on dense traffic routes viz., Kingsway, MG Road, Abids, Koti Medical College etc., causing further obstruction to traffic flow

• Obstructions caused at the bell mouths i.e., where by lanes join the main roads. viz., RTC X Roads, Secunderabad Railway Station, Yousufguda Check Post etc

• Pedestrians walking on the margin of carriage way (main road) due to non-availability of footpaths or due to the illegal occupation of footpaths by hawkers and shopkeepers

• Bus bays are already provided at about 20 places in the GHMC area. There is a need to provide bus bays at about 50 places immediately at huge traffic generating and transit points

“We have forwarded these recommendations to the HMDA to include it in the CTS-2041. These recommendations are from our perspective and is in the interest of commuters,” said a senior official with the APSRTC.