Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Wednesday invited tenders for the purchase of 25 double-decker buses for inter-city services in Hyderabad. The buses were phased out from city roads in the early 2000s due to operational and maintenance costs and lack of availability of spare parts.
According to the specification mentioned in the tender, these double-decker buses will be non-AC, and have to comply with the BS-VI emission standards. ““The bidder shall design, manufacture, test, supply and commission the above buses. The tenderer shall be well established and must have manufacturing and supply facilities of fully built buses in India,” the tender notification reads.
The RTC said that the tender papers could be purchased from depot from February 11. A pre-bid meeting with interested bidders will be held on February 18 at 11 am. The deadline for filing tenders is February 25.
In November last year, urban development minister KT Rama Rao took a nostalgic trip down memory lane, recalling the days when he used to take the iconic green double-decker bus to school, sharing a picture an old photograph of the iconic 7Z green RTC bus that was functional, from Secunderabad via Afzalgunj and High Court route till the Zoo Park.
Addressing Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, he wrote, “Not sure why they were taken off the roads. Any chance we can bring them back Transport Minister @puvvada_ajay Garu?”
The double-decker buses were a common sight in Hyderabad, until the late 1980s. The first bus services began in the city by the sixth Nizam in 1856 when Mir Mahboob Ali Khan’s wife Zahoorunnissa used the ‘Meher’ money she got it at the time of her marriage to start the transport service in Secunderabad. The ‘Z’ letter still remains as a tribute to Zahoorunnisa and Nizam State Road Transport Department.
The popular double-decker bus route was 7Z itself, which ran between Secunderabad and Zoo Park. The other routes were 5Z—from Secunderabad to Mehdipatnam via Rani Gunj, 2Z—between Charminar and Secunderabad; among others. A few of these buses also ran until the early 2000s, before they were lost in time.