The joint RTC and Metro monthly pass in Hyderabad, priced at Rs 8,500, has found almost no buyers. Fewer than 100 passes have been issued since the government introduced it, and both transport agencies are now trading blame over who should bring the price down.

The pass was rolled out without any prior study, and that shortcut is now haunting the government. Transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar publicly promised to reduce the fare, then directed both RTC and Metro to cut it. Neither agency has moved decisively, and the commuters who were supposed to benefit from a single ticket for two systems are staying away.

The math explains the revolt. Of the Rs 8,500, RTC’s share is only Rs 1,500. The remaining Rs 7,000 belongs to Metro. RTC officials have said they cannot lower the price further because the bulk of the fare is Metro’s charge. Metro officials, for their part, argue that the pass gives unlimited Metro travel and have refused to reduce their portion.

The stalemate and the stopgap

Because the monthly pass deadlock has not been resolved, the two agencies introduced a weekly joint pass for seven days of travel. It costs Rs 450, with RTC’s share at Rs 150. RTC officials say that is as low as they can go, because Metro’s share of the weekly price is larger still. The weekly option is a stopgap, not a fix for the monthly commuter who needs a predictable, affordable pass.

Price comparisons make the problem harder for the government to defend. Under the existing system, the GHMC city ordinary monthly pass on RTC buses costs Rs 1,400. The metro express pass is Rs 1,600. A green metro luxury AC pass runs Rs 2,400, and the Pushpak pass costs Rs 5,260. A daily T24 pass on RTC costs Rs 150. Metro also sells a monthly pass for Rs 2,000 with certain trip conditions attached.

Commuters who ride both systems every day are the group the joint pass was built for, and the numbers show why many of them are not buying it. One IT employee, Pranav, takes the metro daily from Uppal station to HITEC City. From there, he rides an RTC bus about five kilometres to his office, then reverses the journey in the evening. By the reporting’s calculation, his metro travel costs up to Rs 2,000 a month and a general RTC pass costs Rs 1,400. Together, those two separate passes come to Rs 3,400, which covers his month for far less than the joint pass.

A central question has emerged from that gap. If the joint pass is meant to simplify travel for people who use both networks, why does it cost more than double the sum of the individual passes that most riders already buy? That is the question many commuters are now asking, and it is driving the outrage.

“Paying that much money for a pass is going to be difficult,” said Ravi, an IT employee who spoke to reporters.

Ravi’s frustration reflects a wider mood among the daily riders who keep Hyderabad moving. Buses are already packed. Since the free bus scheme for women began, the number of women passengers on RTC buses has risen from five lakh to 17 lakh. Many buses are so crowded that finding a seat is difficult, and commuters say a pass that costs more than a month’s worth of regular travel does not solve that pressure. It simply adds a financial barrier on top of an overloaded system.

What it means for Hyderabad and Telangana

The pricing dispute lands directly on Telangana’s capital region. RTC’s bus pass jurisdiction covers the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, which stretches from the Ghatkesar side to Aushapur, from LB Nagar to Kothaguda, and along routes to Ibrahimpatnam and Patancheru. Every commuter inside that boundary who relies on both bus and metro is affected by how the government and the two agencies resolve this, and the outcome will shape daily travel costs for working families and students across the city.

RTC’s network in the city is substantial. The corporation runs about 3,200 buses across 700 routes. On an average day, its buses cover 8.5 lakh kilometres and make around 44,000 trips, carrying roughly 25 lakh passengers. Those numbers mean any pass pricing decision reaches a very large share of the city’s public transport users.

The government’s position is now uncomfortable. It announced a joint pass, faced immediate criticism, and then issued directions to lower the price, only to find that the agencies cannot agree on who should absorb the cut. Officials have not yet announced a revised monthly pass price that resolves the split between RTC and Metro. Until they do, the joint pass remains a policy that commuters are rejecting in practice, and the minister’s directive remains unresolved on the ground.

The story also raises a broader question about how Hyderabad plans its public transport fares. Announcing a headline price before settling the revenue split between two agencies has produced confusion and public anger. For a city where thousands of people depend on a daily combination of buses and trains, the debate is not only about one pass. It is about whether affordable mobility is being designed with commuters in mind or assembled after the fact.