Hyderabad: Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday announced that new RTC city bus services would be introduced for newly developed colonies and areas inside Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road to improve connectivity for suburban residents.
The Minister made the statement after a surprise inspection of the RTC Musheerabad bus depot, where he reviewed digital payment systems and technology upgrades. Accompanied by RTC Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar and senior officials, he discussed integration of passenger data and digital ticketing with the head office.
Prabhakar said RTC had rolled out digital payment options, improving ticketing convenience for passengers. In Hyderabad alone, 16 to 20 percent of transactions had shifted to digital payments over the past three months. Statewide, around 6,000 RTC buses were now equipped with digital payment systems, updating data regularly to the central control.
He said daily passenger loads and revenue details were being tracked through the new systems. Prabhakar also highlighted that, on the lines of Delhi, an electric vehicle policy was rolled out in Telangana to curb pollution. The policy included incentives on electric vehicle purchases not available in other states.
The Minister further noted that after a long gap, permission was granted for electric, CNG, and LPG autos to operate inside Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road limits.