Hyderabad: Though the requirement for bus shelters has doubled, people in the city still continue to get drenched like before owing to lack of proper shelters. Thanks to the departments that have been sitting on files of proposed projects for new shelters, commuters are now suffering during the monsoons.
As per the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation officials, Hyderabad needs more than double the number of existing bus shelters. The Greater Hyderabad and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development areas together have 48 bus bays and 1,160 shelters at 897 locations.
A total of 3,900 buses are currently ferrying 34 lakh people in Hyderabad. There is a requirement for more than 1,600 more bus shelters at 1,031 locations and prominent junctions like Mehdipatnam, LB Nagar, Uppal, Rethi Bowli, Hitec City among others.
“If the buses are already ferrying 34 lakh people everyday and there are about 60 to 70 people on each bus, the ratio of space occupied by a person in his personal transport and to a person traveling in a bus stands at 1:4. A passenger occupies much less space if he chooses to travel by bus. The Corporation and the other nodal agencies must implement better facilities for public transport as that will also help reduce congestion on the roads,” said G. Jaya Rao, executive director, RTC. He emphasised on the need to clear encroachments, make footpaths and finish pending civic projects like larger bus shelters
Harikrishna, additional commissioner, revenue, GHMC, said, “The GHMC has proposed to construct 600 new bus shelters. Currently, there are 1,025 functional shelters under GHMC limits. We have given orders for the rest and some are currently under progress. We are facing a lot of difficulties in terms of availability of land, road widening for Metro Rail etc.” Sources said the GHMC might utilise its own funds to build these shelters.
