HYDERABAD: Barely a month after the TSRTC invited tenders for ‘hire’ buses, it has come to light that close to half of the buses in the Corporation’s fleet are over a decade old and the management is under pressure to continue with resources at its disposal.
It has been at least four years since the Corporation added a sizable number of buses to its fleet, and as matters stand, going ahead with the hired buses is the only option available for it. This means that the RTC would be paying others instead of enhancing its infrastructure.
As per official figures, there are 6,702 buses currently being operated across the State, excluding 3,167 hire buses and Corporation’s replaced runners, bio-tiolets and Garuda- ISZ. The figures suggest that most of the buses being used in the city are at least seven years old and the number of new buses added to the fleet after the formation of TS is negligible.
Even long-distance buses like Super Luxury were inducted into the fleet around 4-5 years back. Till November end, of the 2,622 buses being run as Metro Luxury (AC), Metro Delux, Low Floor, Metro Express, Semi Low Floor, City CNG, City Ordinary and Minibus, only 550 are less than 10 years old. Compared to this, 3,007 of the 4,080 long-distance buses including Garuda Plus, Rajdhani, Vajra, Super Luxury, Deluxe, Express, Mini PVG, Pallevelugu and JNNRM ORD are less than 10 years of age.
According to official sources, the management which now aims to achieve good results with the existing resources is in no mood to spend on new buses, hence would be opting for hired ones. It is feared that the increased pressure on staff and aging fleet may contribute to a spike in the number of accidents.