The rain on Wednesday didn’t just bring the entire city to a crawl but also choked the public transport system with not an inch left on Metros or RTC buses. As cabs or autos were not available and surge charges touched Rs 2,000 for a 10 km ride, most commuters had turned to public transport, increasing the pressure.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) saw 20,000 additional footfalls in the peak evening hours on Wednesday, as per authorities.This usually happens each time there is a heavy downpour and reducing frequency of trains from six minutes to three minutes doesn’t help either, officials said. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) saw additional 30,000 passengers.
The rush exposed the gaping holes in the city’s public transport network, especially in the western areas.
“When I could not get any cabs or autos for two hours, I walked to a nearby bus stand but couldn’t get any bus towards Narsingi. I finally walked to Punjagutta Metro station and it was like landing in the middle of a war. People were pushing from all directions. We hear so much about the need to use public transport, but where are the facilities?” asked Mythri Boora, a salesperson. To add to the chaos, there was a technical glitch on the Miyapur-LB Nagar route. Although it disrupted services for just 7 minutes, the cascading effect of the disruption remained for long. Metro authorities on Thursday announced refund of overstay charges levied on passengers. Meanwhile, the average per day footfall of Metro rail is 4.8 lakh which crossed 5 lakh on Wednesday.
In the case of RTC, the rush on Wednesday evening was still less than the usual Monday rush. A total of 18.58 lakh passengers travelled on Wednesday, which is less than the 24 lakh footfalls recorded this Monday.
“I had gone shopping with a friend to Begum Bazaar but our plan was interrupted by the heavy downpour. Since we were not able to get any cab or auto, we walked to the Metro station and found it packed. It took us a good 15 minutes to push through the crowd to reach the train and yet I could only get into the fourth train. It reminded me of the ride in the Mumbai local I had taken years back,” said Poojitha.
