Hyderabad, Mar 27 (IANS): State-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Monday introduced nine air-conditioned sleeper buses equipped with free Wi-Fi services.

State Transport Minister P. Ajay Kumar formally launched the buses which will initially operate to destinations like Bengaluru, Hubbali, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Chennai.

The TSRTC has purchased 16 AC sleeper buses and nine of them were pressed into service from Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Ajay Kumar said TSRTC had placed orders for 760 new buses and of them over 400 buses have already reached the depots.

TSRTC chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan said with 'Lahari' buses, the Corporation was offering the best state-of-the-art services to passengers at par with private operators

TSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director V.S. Sajjanar said that 1,300 EV buses will be pressed into operation soon.

AC sleeper buses are the latest offering from TSRTC, which recently introduced new super luxury, non-AC sleeper and seater-cum-sleeper buses.

Like non-AC sleeper, the AC sleeper buses have been named 'Lahari'.

With a length of 12 metres, the AC sleeper bus has 15 lower and 15 upper berths. Provision has been made to keep water bottle beside the berth. Mobile charging facilities have also been provided.

Keeping in view the safety of passengers, the bus is equipped with a vehicle tracking system and panic button facility. This will be connected to the TSRTC control room.

Passengers travelling in AC sleeper buses will also get free Wi-Fi facility. Each bus is equipped with two CCTV cameras. It also has a reverse parking assistance camera.

Officials said the front and rear of the bus will have LED boards to display details of the destination and stops. There is also a public address system in the bus to provide information to passengers.

The vehicles will also have state-of-the-art fire detection and alarm system (FDAS). The system sends immediate alerts in case a fire breaks out in the bus.