The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Staggered timings for colleges suggested

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Staggered timings for colleges suggested

Staff Reporter

‘RTC already operating 259 bus services just to cater to the travel needs of students’

Reaching out: RTC Hyderabad zone Executive Director P.V.D Jayasankara Prasad talking to students at L.B. Nagar crossroads on Friday.

HYDERABAD: The RTC has suggested that introduction of staggered timings for scores of engineering colleges on city outskirts could only solve the transportation problems of thousands of students pursuing professional courses.

Coming under severe flak for its inability to run sufficient bus services, especially after an engineering student travelling atop a city bus fell to death at Inam Guda crossroads near Hayathnagar on Wednesday, the RTC maintained that it was already operating 259 bus services just to cater to the travel needs of the students.

“We will add another 45 services in a week to colleges on Ghatkesar, Ibrahimpatnam, Moinabad and Medchal routes.” P.V.D. Jayasankara Prasad, ED of RTC Hyderabad Zone said at a press conference here on Friday.

This would help ease the rush in city buses now.

However, Mr. Prasad was of the strong view that introduction of staggered timings for engineering colleges would be the best solution.

He said the corporation was calling for a meeting of college managements, student representatives and the Commissioner of Technical Education at Bus Bhavan to discuss the issue on November 15.

There are more than 30 colleges on the L.B. Nagar and Ibrahimpatnam routes and nearly 8000 students travel by city buses daily.

“Increasing the number of buses is not the solution. The buses would be returning almost empty”, he said.

The corporation authorities conducted a study on the need for increasing buses on Ghatkesar, Ibrahimpatnam, Kothaguda, Moinabad routes on Friday.

As part of this exercise, they spoke to students at L.B. Nagar crossroads, B.N. Reddy Nagar and other areas.

They were told about late arrival of buses on the Ghatkesar routes, insufficient number of buses on the Pratap Singaram and Ibrahimpatnam routes.

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