Hyderabad: Metro styled seating in RTC electric buses

The seating of buses on some routes has been changed on an experimental basis on busy routes. If this policy is successful, it will be implemented in other routes as well.

Hyderabad: Commute in city buses the metro train way.

As a part of accommodating more patrons and sustaining the corporation’s revenue, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC), is now making changes in the seating arrangements of a few newly introduced non-air conditioned electric buses operating in the city limits, similar to that in metro trains.

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Ever since the ‘Maha Lakshmi’ free travel facility for women was introduced by the State government, there has been a whopping response from women travellers, leading to the buses running with full occupancy across the State. This has resulted in the need for more space and seats in the buses to accommodate as many travellers as possible.

As part of it, recently, RTC authorities have on a pilot basis removed the grills which were earlier fixed to separate women and men travellers in some buses. Instead, new seats were fixed in those places for the convenience of passengers.

For this, the RTC officials selected new and less travelled or damaged buses like the ‘Palle Velugu’ or ‘Deluxe Express’ buses to make changes.
The corporation has also taken a crucial decision to have metro-style seating in buses plying in the Hyderabad region. With the Maha Lakshmi scheme, the number of passengers in RTC buses has increased significantly and rose from 11 lakh to between 18-20 lakh on a daily basis in the city.

“City buses are mostly crowded with people going to offices and colleges and returning in the mornings and evenings. This metro style arrangement will allow more people to travel in the same bus,” said a senior RTC official.

Officials say that if few middle seats of the bus are removed and seating is arranged on both sides like in the metro train, it will be easier for more people to travel in the empty space in the middle of the bus.

The seating of buses on some routes has been changed on an experimental basis on busy routes. If this policy is successful, it will be implemented in other routes as well, officials said.