Commuters rue lack of bus shelters in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A lack of bus shelters in the city is becoming a major problem for commuters. Passengers standing in the scorching sun, waiting for their bus has become a common sight across Hyderabad with construction of bus shelters taking place at a snail's pace.

In many places, bus stops have simply disappeared and now there is no designated spot for the bus drivers to stop the bus, commuters complained. "Most of the commuters waiting at these bus stops come from offices and residential colonies located around it. The bus stops are usually busy from morning to evening and the absence of a shelter or a seating facility only adds to our problems," said P Sadhanand, a school teacher who commutes by bus on a regular basis. "People are forced to brave odd weather conditions only because the bus connectivity across the twin cities is good. Otherwise, there is no reason why we should this mode of transport," he added.

Similar problems are faced by commuters who were seen waiting for bus stops constructed by the Metro authorities in the city. Commuters were seen facing a tough time while waiting for buses at an under-construction bus shelter near Victoria Memorial Metro Station at Kothapet as works are going on at a very slow pace. "The condition of this bus stop is so bad that we cannot even stand here while waiting for the bus. Since, it is close to the Metro station, we were hoping that this will have all necessary facilities, but we were wrong," said Afreen Begum, a resident of Kothapet.

Road safety experts say that the situation is down to the lack of proper infrastructural planning. "A lot of bus stops in the city were demolished to accommodate foot paths in the city and were not rebuilt. The government authorities should do an assessment of how many bus shelters are missing and are under construction in the city and find an immediate solution to the matter," said Vinod Kumar Kanumala, a road safety expert.