Inter-city bus service cheer
2 min readPatna: Residents will get a new bus service run by the Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) from Kargil Chowk to Danapur in the next 10 days.
Twenty-five buses would be put into service on a trial basis and buses would be available every five minutes. In the bus, there would be 50 per cent reservation for women passengers. The buses would run from 6.30am to 9pm.
Transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal made the announcement on Saturday after travelling on the bus. Earlier, the BSRTC buses used to ply on the Patna-Chhapra, Patna-Bihta, Patna-Hajipur route but there was no dedicated bus service inside the city.
“On the pattern of DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation), we are also planning to start the bus service for the people of Patna because there is no dedicated service. We have city buses but this would make the journey more comfortable because the buses are designed in such a way that passengers would feel safe,” Agarwal told The Telegraph while travelling on the bus.
Agarwal travelled from the Bankipore bus depot to the Income Tax roundabout. The Bihar cadre IAS officer of the 2002 batch said he travelled on a bus after 16 years and that the last time he had boarded a bus was in New Delhi.
The transport secretary stressed that these buses would only halt at the designated stops and not in the usual practised way (passengers raise their hands at any place on the road to stop the buses). There would be 22 stops between Kargil Chowk and Danapur.
Agarwal said people need to learn that buses will halt only at designated stops and not at any other place.
“The bus service would start in the next 10 days. People will get a bus after every five minutes. The service is only from Kargil Chowk to Danapur via Bailey Road. However it will also touch Patna Junction and from there it would take an U-turn towards Dakbungalow and then straight to Danapur,” Agarwal said.
The buses will not pass over the Raja Bazaar flyover and the Saguna Mor flyover on its route but will go underneath those for the benefit of patients or their attendants as two hospitals – Paras HMRI and IGIMS – fall on the route.
There will be 32 seats but it will accommodate another 18 people who would have to stand. Seats would also be reserved for senior citizens, physically challenged and one seat for the third sex.
Each buses is equipped with three closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) and Global Positioning System (GPS) which would be monitored from the transport department office and the bus depot.
The minimum fair would be Rs 5 and the maximum Rs 16. In the coming days, the transport department plans to extend the service on other routes.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
