HYDERABAD: Increasing number of vehicles on the city roads and frequent choc-a-bloc situations are found to be what affects the revenues of the cash-strapped TSRTC in Greater Hyderabad zone. Sample this: the Corporation, in 2017-18, lost a total of 47,94,332 km of route service in Greater Hyderabad zone alone. This is not only 1,38,309 km higher when compared to 2016-17, but also in amounts of several crores of rupees. The corporation’s internal data also found the increasing traffic in the city as the major reason for the kilometres lost.
The data for TSRTC’s depot route-wise performance for Hyderabad buses shows that a total of 47,94,332 km of route service was lost or cancelled in 2017-18 financial year. This is higher than the 2016-17 figure of 46,56,013 kilometre. In February 2018 alone, TSRTC depots lost or cancelled a total of 2,83,363 km.
The root cause has been attributed to the ever-increasing traffic in the city. The RTA data suggests the total number of vehicles in the city has crossed over 30 lakh by Dec 2017. The issues, other than increasing traffic, for which services often get cancelled include: want of crew (TSRTC may have a bus ready for service but no crew), want of bus (where vehicle is off road or is not in a motorable condition, they have a crew ready but with no bus). Or, a situation where they have both, the buses and the crew, but bus maintenance is taking time, also leads to late supply of bus and eventual cancellation of the trip.
No scope for BRTS?
“There is no scope for Bus Rapid Transit System in Hyderabad because roads are narrow. BRTS needs wide roads. We can look at BRTS for upcoming colonies with roads wider than 60 feet if the government decides,” the official added.