HYDERABAD: With the Mississippi Hangar, which doubled up a bus shelter at the city bus station, gone and the rains lashing the city, thousands of passengers who earlier boarded buses from here are now forced to stand in the open. While the TSRTC has designated two bus shelters outside the CBS as a stop-gap arrangement until the proposed integrated model bus terminus comes up, the corporation has clearly failed to take into consideration the footfall at CBS.
An estimated 85,000 passengers who board 510 buses from CBS every day, according to official data, are now inconvenienced as the facility to use toilets has also gone with the Nizam-era hangar. Also are gone the seating arrangements, ATM, and availability of RO purified water.
At present, city buses plying on route numbers 1, 2, 3, 86, 20 P, and 8 R halt at bus shelter 1 where half of the space is leased out for a convenience store. For route number 9 and 218, bus shelter number 2 is being utilised.
When Express visited the bus shelter on Sunday while it was raining, V Lakshman Rao, a businessman who is an inter-state traveller, said: “We have lost the biggest umbrella that helped us survive all rough weather conditions. Do you think this shelter is enough for the thousands,” he asked, pointing towards the cracks on the ceiling of the shelter.
With heavy rains predicted over the city by the IMD, the problem is set to further worsen. “Considering the high number of people who board buses from here, it is sure that we will be drenched. The bus shelter does not have sufficient space to hold passengers for the six routes that pass through this place,” observed Y Ashok Kumar, a commuter.
The other shelter which is behind the bus shelter 1 is in a dilapidated state with parts of the roof already cracking. “The bus shelter looks like it would sustain for another six months or so but what mainly concerns us is the absence of immediate toilet facility that would be a bane considering the long travelling that people do,” said V Harish Gupta, a student.
It may be mentioned here that the CBS boasted of having dry toilets provided for men and women separately.
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Meanwhile, TSRTC has increased its vigilance to make buses go through the bus shelters in its attempt to give a hassle-free commute to its passengers.
“We are used to handling these kinds of situations as the same scenario prevails when there are festivities. During those times, the CBS would be used for distant bus movement and the two bus-stops for city bus movements,” said an official who did not wish to be identified.