Hyderabad: A group of college students had been waiting an hour-and-a-half at the Nampally stop for the bus number 49 to show up. While they waited, they said, drunk boys sometimes come around and trouble them. When the bus finally arrives, it may not stop where they are standing.
“Most of the time they don’t even stop at the bus stop. They will stop a few metres away and then we have to run to get in. Doing this, we might step on someone or bump into someone and then a fight starts,” Nishta and Ria, college students waiting at the same stop, told Siasat.com.
This is the daily reality of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC), which Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar told the Assembly on September 11 is the “lifeline of the poor and middle class,” used by over 65 lakh passengers every day.
The lifeline is under strain. Since the Mahalakshmi free bus scheme for women was launched, occupancy on TGSRTC buses has risen from 67 per cent to 89 per cent, according to figures Prabhakar gave at Bus Bhavan last month. Passengers now squeeze their way into crowded buses and face harassment from fellow passengers, or in some cases from RTC staff, if they manage to catch one in the first place.
Paying passengers and free passengers have begun to resent each other. So have passengers and staff.
No fare, no respect
The Mahalakshmi scheme has helped women save Rs 12,167 crore across 347.36 crore zero-fare trips, by the minister’s own count. The women who use it say they seldom feel respected.
Shivani, a 24-year-old college teacher, has been travelling in RTC buses for the past six years. She feels the “respect” RTC staff had for passengers has come down significantly. “Previously they used to stop at the bus stop for a reasonable time, now they stop only for a few seconds,” she told Siasat.com. “Maybe because they think that we are going for free, they don’t respect us.”
Nishta and Ria said drivers are less likely to stop at all if they see few passengers, or female passengers.
Some of the staff feel the complete opposite. Krishna, a driver at the Musheerabad depot, said it is the passengers who no longer respect the staff.
“Earlier, everyone paid to use the service. That is why they had respect for the driver and the conductor. Now, because it is free, one bus that is supposed to carry 50 people is carrying 120 people. Ladies are also getting on and off wherever they feel like. They will tell us, ‘Why didn’t you stop where I asked you to?’ and pick up fights. Some staff are also getting hit by passengers,” he told Siasat.com.
Asked about the frequent complaints of buses not stopping at their designated stops, Krishna said drivers are looking to end their shift after a long day. “We have an eight-hour shift and sometimes it gets delayed because of the traffic. Drivers are developing spine problems and our muscles start to ache by the end of the shift, so all we are thinking about is dropping the bus at the depot and going home. That is why sometimes drivers ignore passengers at the stops and just drive past,” he said.
“However, like fingers on a hand, not all drivers are the same. Some do decide to stop. If we don’t and get caught, we get suspended over it,” he added.
They are charging us extra: Male passengers
Some male passengers say women’s free trips are a burden on their pockets.
“They are charging us Rs 5 to Rs 10 extra but we don’t even get a seat. It is all women occupying them,” Ansar, a college student waiting at the Nampally bus stop, told Siasat.com.
Paul, a 35-year-old passenger at Koti bus stop, echoed the same, calling the Mahalakshmi scheme “dangerous” as it increased ticket prices for him. “What should the government do? They must give education free, healthcare free, instead they have made buses free,” he said.
“If they want to do something, they should give separate buses for students. If this is implemented then the crowd will be much less. They are the ones occupying most of the buses in the morning and evening hours,” he told Siasat.com.
The government did not raise fares the moment the Mahalakshmi scheme was implemented. Fares were eventually increased by Rs 5 to Rs 10 in late 2025 to fund e-bus infrastructure. In June 2025, TGSRTC also raised bus pass fares by over 20 per cent, including Greater Hyderabad and Green Metro AC passes. A senior RTC official then cited rising operational costs, higher demand, new bus procurement, timely salaries, loans and long-pending dearness allowances (DA), along with the Mahalakshmi scheme, as the reasons.
“For the past three years, there was no increase in the bus pass fares. But now, we are forced to come up with the decision for the betterment of the RTC,” the official said at the time.
During festival periods, prices on special buses are raised by 1.5 times, as these buses are often empty on the return journey. All of these costs fall only on paying passengers, since the Mahalakshmi scheme keeps services free for women.
The long wait for buses
College students at the Nampally bus stop told Siasat.com they wait anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes for a bus to show up.
“I sometimes have to wait 30 minutes to get a bus from Nampally to Tolichowki,” said Omer, a student. The group of girls waiting for bus number 49 had been there for an hour-and-a-half.
They also said drunk boys sometimes trouble them while they wait. Omer said drunk men sometimes get into the bus and misbehave with women. “It is the responsibility of the driver and conductor to prevent that from happening. But these people still manage to get on,” he told Siasat.com.
At night, private travel buses occupy the space in front of bus stops, forcing passengers to stand in the middle of the street to catch the RTC driver’s attention. Otherwise, the driver would simply drive past.
For some, the network itself is the obstacle. “Passengers and the staff are not always helpful in guiding you where you need to get off and on so I don’t take the bus very often,” said Sowjanya at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS).
Even so, Nishta and Ria said they prefer the RTC bus to the Metro or other modes of transport. “Buses have helped us save a lot of money. But if you have more money and less time, then you can take the Metro,” they said.
Inside the bus, tensions rise
Once on board, the crowding turns into friction. Petty fights break out as frustrations grow in the cramped space.
“When buses stop all of a sudden, we bump into each other and some people will start yelling at you or even hit you,” Ria said.
The same crush makes it difficult for conductors to hand out tickets. “Conductors have to see so many things, who gets zero (free) tickets, who needs to get change and he needs to check Aadhaar or bus passes,” Krishna said.
“He is doing all this in a cramped space while being careful that he doesn’t brush against someone the wrong way. Some women are also taking advantage of this and cheating conductors saying they have an Aadhaar when they don’t.”
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