Telangana State Road Transport Corporation’s bus stations and stops buzzed with activity as thousands from the city headed for their hometowns across the State ahead of Dasara.
As a part of Dasara bus services, the transport juggernaut chalked up plans of deploying around 3,000 special buses to various destinations including Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam and Mahbubnagar, among several others. But, as on Saturday, less than half of those were pressed into service.
“Last year, due to the strike called by trade unions, the operations were affected. The number of buses and passengers were reduced. But in 2018, the number of services as well as the occupancy was much higher. I think it is because of COVID-19 pandemic that the number of passengers this year is lower than that of 2018. Reduced spending capacity due to the pandemic could be another factor,” said a TSRTC staff member.
On the one hand, it is from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station that buses towards destinations in erstwhile composite districts such as Mahbubnagar and Khammam move. On the other, the Jubilee Bus Station caters to passengers travelling to destinations in north Telangana such as those in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Medak. The Uppal bus stop saw movement of buses towards Warangal and Thorrur. Buses beginning their journey from L.B. Nagar moved towards Nalgonda district and stopped en route.
Those familiar with operations said a large number of passenger movement is seen towards north Telangana.
While inter-district services in the State were operational, inter-State services between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh continued to remain suspended. Both State transport undertakings could not come to an agreement on the number of kilometres and the number of buses they should clock. The situation forced several passengers to travel by private transport and shared cabs.
Several passengers appeared to ignore COVID-19 precautions such as wearing masks at the bus stations and stops, including at the one in Uppal.
