Hyderabad: There has been a sharp rise in women passengers across the state availing free bus ride. The number of passengers recorded on December 10 was almost 15 percent higher than that of December 3. A senior RTC official said that the actual figure of passengers will be available once the 'Zero Ticket' software is accessed.
Mondays are usually more crowded than other days and RTC expects a much higher passenger load today as it is the last Monday of Kartick month. Thus, leaves of all drivers and conductors have been canceled.
RTC has decided to run a large number of buses to Saiva Kshetras like Vemulawada, Keesaragutta, Ramappa, and Kaleswaram. On regular days, buses run for 31-32 lakh kilometres. On Monday, 34 lakh kilometres would be covered. RTC has arranged to run an additional 10 percent buses today.
''We will try to ply buses as per the load of women passengers. We will focus on new strategies to meet the needs of passengers with the existing buses. This includes 'cut' trips so that if there is traffic, instead of going to distant places, the buses will be ply on routes with more passenger load. We will act as per our experience and introduce newer ideas'', a top official of RTC said.
With the launch of the 'Mahalakshmi' scheme on Saturday, women who used to travel in private buses on various routes are now opting for the free travel facility at government buses. As a result of which, the government buses are getting extremely crowded. People boarding the buses are even trying to occupy the space at the back of the driver's seat, officials said.
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