Hyderabad: During the Hyderabad City Dialogue organised on Wednesday (June 22) by the civil society coalition SUM net, panelists stated that the city and state governments need to sort out their transportation sector priorities. The main task towards the government was that the Hyderabad needs at least 5,000 new buses as compared to the current and outdated fleet of 3,000.
This dialogue, which included commuters and experts is a part of SUM Net’s Lakh to 50 campaign. It promotes the need for at least 50 buses for every one lakh people.
Amidst the prevalent pandemic, the Hyderabad’s inability to provide premier public transport — despite being a huge source of revenue to the state and central government — was deemed problematic.
Noted city urbanist, Dr. Anant Mariganti of Hyderabad Urban Labs, stressed the need for bus services to cater to the needs of various commuters. That too, those who earn their livelihoods from informal occupations like domestic workers, mall and commercial employees, sanitation staff, office-goers, students and etc.
“Using buses should not be difficult. It should be intuitive; form planning the journey to using a bus, among all the megacities in the country, Hyderabad has the lowest number of buses.”
Commuter Chaitanya Ratnam said
Chairing the discussion, noted academic Dr. Narasimha Reddy advised that Hyderabad should take this opportunity to bring bus services back to the centre stage of city mobility systems.
As part of its national campaign, SUM Net holds online dialogue with local commuters and stakeholders in various metros all over the country. It formulates as well as furthers viable and necessary bus transportation policies.