Hyderabad: Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) operated buses are continuing to obstruct vehicular traffic with many of its drivers stopping the vehicles on the middle of the road instead of bus bays. Though TSRTC had proposed to install Global Positioning System (GPS) to track whether its buses were halting in bus bays or not, the project has not been implemented in toto.
Even the manual supervision seen a year ago to ensure that buses stopped in the bus bays is missing now. RTC drivers blamed it on wrong parking of autos and petty vendors occupying the bus bays and approach road. However, the passengers said buses do not stop in bus bays even when there are no autos or vendors. “The problem is more when buses come in bunches. Some of them stop on middle of the road and speed away leaving the passengers stranded at bus shelters. Sometimes passengers have to run up to the bus on the middle of the road risking their lives,” said Ch Katyayini, a school teacher.
Passengers demanded that TSRTC management put up notice boards at bus shelters with phone numbers of senior officials for complaints to be lodged. “We will take photographs of buses stopping on the middle of the road and send it to the senior officers,” said K. Jeevan Goud, a passenger. Other motorists said RTC buses stop dangerously on the middle of the road blocking the carriageway of other motorists resulting in traffic jams. Traffic cops too are not taking any action against buses stopping on middle of the road, said R. Pratap, a motorist.
TSRTC executive director Mr Purushotham Naik said they are calling for tenders to connect all the 3,800-odd RTC buses in the city with GPS so that they can track every bus and make sure it stops in bus bays. “Though the GPS facility was provided in 1235 buses a couple of years ago, it is not working in many buses now. If any driver gets traffic challans repeatedly, he is sent for training to improve his driving skills,” he said.
