Here comes the EVOLUTION of A/C buses in APSRTC-GHMC region.
1.The first A/C bus in Hyderabad was introduced way back in 2005. The bus was called SEETALAHAMSA . AL VIKING SLFs were used. Initially they had good patronage . But , they soon lost their importance and were cancelled . They were renamed as MEGHAMALA and re introduced as inter-city buses.
2.In 2009 , APSRTC got its first lot of JNNURM buses in the form of VOLVOs. 8 VOLVO 8400s were procured. Now, some of them are in bad shape but running strong.No more VOLVOs were added to the fleet as these buses became burden to APSRTC which is already running under losses.
3.Then came the TATA MARCOPOLO A/C buses. . Introduced in 2011, The buses had a distinctive color scheme and were named CITY-SHEETAL .The bus has problems with its doors and the A/C too.
Then, another variant of MARCOPOLO was introduced with green colour scheme . The bus is much refined when compared to the old MARCOPOLOs .
The A/C buses do not have many takers in the city and are found running empty at any time . Except for a few buses which run packed during rush hours.
*not sure on the technical details of the marcopolos, will post them when i'm sure.
