Vijayawada: With summer heat intensifying, passengers in Vijayawada are ruing the decision of the municipal corporation to modernise the bus shelters in the city.
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has started pulling down the existing bus shelters and replacing them with modern one. However, the passengers waiting for buses to arrive find these modern bus shelters to be small and congested.
Thus far, the VMC has replaced almost all the bus shelters on the city’s busiest road, the MG Road, on the stretch from Control Room centre to Benz Circle.
However, work on these swanky has been delayed though the announcement was made about a year ago. Soon after the announcement, some of the bus shelters were pulled down and passengers were forced to wait under the open sky.
Apart from these bus shelters, the VMC has also planned to set up 75 benches, 50 public utilities, 79 vending kiosks, 49 police booths and 109 dustbins at public places, which are being designed to meet international standards.
According to VMC officials, the advertising agency will generate revenue by using the interiors and exteriors of the bus shelters, police booths and other infrastructure for advertising purpose. The agency will pay the VMC Rs 2.5 crore per year, with an enhancement of 5 per cent every year up to 10 years.
The agency will initially invest nearly Rs 30 crore on these bus shelters and other infrastructure.
A. Subhasini, a student said, “These shelters are uncomfortable. They are so tiny that they are unable to accommodate over 8-10 persons at a time.” She said that almost all students are forced to wait under the hot sun during school timings.
An elderly lady from Enikepadu, Y, Swarna Latha, said: “I regularly use the city bus to go to my village. These new shelters are very small but more attractive than the earlier ones.”
M. Kiran Kumar, a photo editor, said “These new shelters look good but they are designed to display the ads, rather for the convenience of the travellers. I think the VMC officials failed to consider the passengers and concentrated on their revenues.”
