With several school and college managements, especially engineering colleges on the city fringes, reluctant to introduce staggered timings for their institutions, the APSRTC is facing a tough time in operating sufficient number of buses for the convenience of students.
Everyday about 90,000 students travel in RTC buses to reach their respective colleges in Ibrahimpatnam, Uppal, Ghatkesar, Hakimpet, Hayathnagar, Moinabad, Patancheru, Medchal and other areas.
With the commencement of every academic year, the demand for more buses increases from students and many are forced to travel on bus tops and resort to foot boarding.
As most engineering colleges have the same timings, students gather in large numbers at Dilsukhnagar, L.B. Nagar, Uppal, Koti, Secunderabad, I.S. Sadan, Mehdipatnam during peak hours to board these buses.
As a result, severe traffic jams are witnessed at these points everyday, which eventually affects the movement of vehicles in the above localities and its impact is also felt in the surrounding areas.
The Greater Hyderabad Zone of APSRTC is presently operating over 900 buses, which make about 8,500 trips covering schools and colleges on the city fringes.
This was after the authorities increased 115 buses last year to meet the demand. They have now chalked out plans to add 500 more trips in the above areas from this academic year for the convenience of students.
Occupancy ratio
“Merely increasing the number of buses or trips will not serve the purpose, as most get stuck in traffic jams and turn up late at the bus stops,” says a senior RTC official.
This apart, during peak hours, the seat occupancy ratio in buses is very high but not quite in the return journeys, increasing operational costs.
All these can be addressed, if only college managements stagger their timings as we have been requesting, says the official.
