Hyderabad: The TSRTC will operate mini buses from colonies and interior areas in the city to link the residential areas with Metro Rail stations.
Officials said this was being done to cut vehicular traffic on city roads and to discourage people from using private vehicles to reach Metro stations.
Transport minister Patnam Mahender Reddy told the Assembly on Saturday that RTC officials were holding talks with Metro authorities and modalities in the colonies-stations link-ups would be finalised soon.
Mr Reddy said the RTC had also phased out 15-year-old buses or those that had run over 13.6 lakh km. He said this was done to curb urban pollution.
MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi responded by saying that the RTC was still not running enough buses in the city and maintained that this gap in services was forcing people to use personal vehicles or expensive autos. But Mr Reddy added that a total of 3,519 RTC buses in city had been catering to nearly 33 lakh passengers every day.
The minister said 160 AC, 154 metro ‘deluxe’ buses, 888 metro expresses and 2, 242 regular buses were being operated by the RTC daily. The transport minister said another 390 special buses were being operated exclusively for women.
There was another request from Mr Owaisi who reminded the government that it had promised to provide route directions in Urdu too - besides English and Telugu.
This caused a row between IT minister K.T. Rama Rao and Mr Owaisi. Mr Rao objected to Mr Owaisi's statement in which he said the TRS government was running a 'dictatorial democracy’.
