The city will soon get 575 new RTC buses, all of them fully equipped with GPS-GPRS technology.
The buses will roll out shortly from the Maheswaram, Farooqnagar and Falaknuma bus depots, and will complement the existing fleet of 3,700-odd buses.
The GPS-GPRS technology will help authorities run buses as per schedule and help maintain punctuality of services. After a service trial run was conducted in over 50 buses on the Koti-Jubilee Hills and Koti-Patancheru routes, there are plans to introduce the service in 2,000 city buses, RTC Greater Hyderabad zone Executive Director A. Koteswara Rao said.
Of the 575, 150 buses would be procured by the corporation and the rest would be purchased under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. Out of the 425 new buses to be procured under JNNURM, 50 would be low-floor buses. In tune with the city’s expansion, efforts are on to connect fringe areas with the core ones.
Most new buses would be utilised for augmentation and only 25 per cent of them would replace the old and rickety buses. Officials were already working on identification of potential areas for launching new routes.
New bus stations
Two new bus stations – one at Kacheguda and another at Farooqnagar – would be unveiled soon. They would serve as transit points and would be replete with facilities like hotels, ATM centres and other services, Mr. Rao said.
Last year, 193 new buses were introduced and considering the high demand, the number was increased to 575 this year.
