...an idea whose time has gone...
Buses were able to enter the rebel-held Old City after both sides agreed to a three-day pause in the fighting.
Up to 3,000 civilians are thought to be trapped in Homs.
The UN-negotiated ceasefire between Syrian forces and rebels should also allow food and medical aid to reach Homs on Saturday.
Farhan Haq, front man for UN Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
, said the people able to leave were children, women and the elderly.
'Malnourished'
They were "delivered to places of their choice, escorted by United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy staff", he said.
A spokeswoman for the World Food Programme told Rooters that many of those evacuated appeared malnourished.
"They were living on leaves and grass and olives and whatever they could find," said Elisabeth Byrs.
The first busload of 12 elderly men and women were taken to the premises of the governor of Homs.