HYDERABAD: The swanky air-conditioned bus shelter that was opened to the public at Shilparamam in Hitec City last month has a design problem that is leading to bus commuters miss their bus. The pilot bus shelter, which was opened on May 22, does not have a front door that opens to the bus bay. By the time the waiting commuters reach the bus after exiting through the side doors, the bus will already have departed. Moreover, buses do not stop at the shelter and the task of stopping the bus rests with the watchman.
Last week, the bus shelter wore a deserted look. It did not have even a signboard to indicate that it was a bus shelter nor did it have any information board showing bus timings or routes. The ‘baby feeding room’ was locked and the WiFi unavailable.
“People sometimes miss the bus as the front of the bus shelter has a row of glass panes and they have to use the side doors to reach the bus bay but by then the bus leaves,” said Thimmayya, watchman at the bus shelter.
“The only time people are seen at the shelter waiting for bus is around 4 pm. At other times, people get inside just to sit and talk. As buses also don’t stop here, often I have to wave my hands at the approaching bus in a signal to the driver to stop,” he added.
“We will remove the front glass panes and build a sliding door there in a couple of days. We will also come up with a system for the public to use to alert bus driver to stop,” said Prasad Mamaya, a senior manager with KKRC Infra, which will build 80 of the bus shelters coming up in the city in the next five years. When pointed out why the bus shelter was designed in such a way that it had no front door, he shrugged and said, “I don’t have an answer to that.”
GHMC has planned to set up 826 modern bus shelters. Four agencies have been roped in on Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) basis to build 400 new bus stops and renovate another 400.