Where buses go bust autos make hay

By J.S. Ifthekhar

HYDERABAD, AUG. 10. It burns a hole in the pocket every minute of the day. And before the day wears off the RTC is poorer by Rs. 1 lakh. All this... because of the knee-jerk policies of the Government.

The decision to lift traffic curbs on two-wheelers, cars and autorickshaws in the Charminar pedestrianised zone while making the RTC buses take diversion on the ring road is proving disastrous for the latter. The public sector undertaking is in the red by Rs. 17 lakhs in as many days and the losses are expected to mount in the days to come.

The number of passengers travelling by the RTC buses from Afzalgunj to Charminar have declined sharply after the buses started plying on the alternative route following limited pedestrianisation of the two km Pathergatti-Charminar stretch. This is attributed to the hike in fare. The RTC which was earlier collecting a fare of Rs. 2.50 from Afzalgunj to Charminar has now increased it to Rs. 3 in view of the additional distance of 1.4 km it has to cover.

Commuters now prefer to go by autorickshaws which charge only Rs. 2 per head from Afzalgunj to Charminar. Not just money they also save time travelling through the three-wheelers, it is said.

According to Mr. Ch. Rameshwara Rao, Regional Manager, APSRTC, an assessment made by the City Region during the last fortnight showed that the passenger traffic on the Afzalgunj-Charminar route had come down by 7 to 8 per cent. A total of 279 buses from different corners of the city touch Charminar everyday. The RTC incurs an expenditure of Rs. 14 per km. With reduced traffic, plying of buses on this sector is proving unremunerative. The loss of patronage might make the RTC to even think of cutting down the number of trips. The corporation buses now make 4,000 trips up and down everyday.

Authorities feel the public transport has been given a raw deal in the Charminar pedestrianisation project. Allowing private cars and autorickshaws access to the Pathergatti road while denying the same to RTC is `unfair'. When the trend all over the world is to encourage public transport, the Government has done quite the opposite in its anxiety to please the local MLAs and traders.

The three-wheelers would eat into the RTC revenue as no one would like to spend extra time and money to travel the same route. Already, the number of autorickshaws plying from point to point have registered a two-fold increase at Afzalgunj, it is said.

Senior RTC officials feel the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, has been given a wrong picture about the pedestrianisation project. At least now, the Government should constitute an expert committee headed by Prof. Raghavachari to look into the one-way traffic curbs introduced in the area.

The decision to shift Charminar bus station to the police land behind the Falaknuma Palace is also stated to be a misconceived idea. This, too, is expected to result in heavy losses to the RTC as it would have to ply near empty buses for the four-km stretch from Falaknuma to Charminar since the bulk of commuters board the buses at Charminar.

The authorities also foresee traffic congestion near the monument with the buses stopping right on the road for the passengers to board. Further, the shifting of bus station might put the 45,000 bus pass holders to great inconvenience, it is feared.

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