Blame it on the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation’s apathy, commuters have to sweat it out waiting for bus under the scorching sun, thanks to lack of bus shelters. “Right from the Control Room to Autonagar on Bandar Road, there are bus stages near Tagore Library, Hotel Fortune Murali Park and Ramaiah Mess at NTR Circle, where one finds no bus shelters,” says Durga Prasad, a commuter.
There are close to 180 bus shelters, including the 50-odd ones that were constructed on the BRTS corridor, in the city. These apart, there are 40 more, which were set up using donations from philanthropists and NGOs.
The VMC has outsourced the maintenance of as many as 180 bus shelters and construction of new ones to a private company, which, in return, pays nearly Rs. 8.5 crore towards advertisement revenue annually. But, commuters allege that the VMC authorities have got their priorities wrong, as several bus shelters are set up with an eye on advertisement revenue rather than passengers’ convenience.
Commuters cannot utilise the bus shelters on Krishna Lanka Road, Sambamurthy Road and Canal Road them, and consequently, they have become parking lots, says Sharada Devi, another commuter. However, according to VMC City Planner S. Chakrapani, there are enough bus shelters in the city.
“All these shelters are constructed on the basis of RTC suggestions and representations from the public. This summer, owing to election duty, we could not identify more locations,” he says.
