HYDERABAD: Monday will prove to be a challenge for the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), with educational institutions reopening after the Dasara vacation. Even as there is no end in sight to the TSRTC employees’ strike, the corporation will have to handle the sudden influx of students in Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana.
Lakhs of students of schools, junior colleges and degree colleges are set to put the TSRTC to the test, especially in Hyderabad and Secunderabad, where the corporation has only been able to run 50-60 per cent of its operational capacity of buses. In the districts, 70-80 per cent of buses are on the roads, thanks to drivers and conductors hired on an ad hoc basis.
On Sunday, the TSRTC operated just 1,567 buses in the twin cities — around 55 per cent of its capacity. Among the districts, Nizamabad had the lowest percentage of buses plying, with 74 per cent of its fleet on the road. Statewide, 6,437 of the 8,949 buses were operated, official sources said.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting on the TSRTC’s preparedness with Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar, Transport Commissioner Sunil Sharma, and senior officials of the TSRTC and school education department at Pragathi Bhavan on Sunday. The transport minister later instructed the TSRTC to run as many buses as possible from Monday. The TSRTC aims to operate at least 2,000 buses in Hyderabad every day.
The transport department plans to operate around 500 private buses on the city’s roads to cater to the demand, and most of them will ply on routes to and from areas where colleges are concentrated.
“On a regular day, when there is no strike, around 3,000 buses operate in the city. If we are able to run at least 2,000, there won’t be much of a problem. Till Friday, we were able to operate around 1,800 buses in the city,” said a senior TSRTC official.
Bus passes still valid
Student bus passes will be valid in all buses, and the temporary conductors will be told to accept them,” a senior TSRTC official said