Hyderabad: The RTC has transported 12 lakh pilgrims from all corners of the state to the Medaram jatara, which concluded on Saturday, without seeking any buses from AP. This it did by diverting a large number of buses from Hyderabad.
As a result, city commuters had to wait longer during the jatara period for buses. Sour-ces said the RTC had diverted 1,000 of the 3,800 buses in the city as jatara specials.
The RTC usually transports 34 lakh passengers per day, by making 41,976 trips covering 9.41 lakh km. With the 1,000 city buses being diverted, the passengers were inconvenienced.
Though buses were drawn from all 95 depots, the largest number was diverted from the 28 depots in the city. In all, the TSRTC operated over 4,000 buses for the Medaram jatara.
For the first time, air-conditioned bus services were operated between Hyderabad and Medaram with return journey facility including advance reservation.
For the first time, Telangana did not have to depend on other states, including Andhra Pradesh, for buses. RTC joint managing director G.V. Ramana Rao said all buses would resume normal operations from Monday.
