BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL), a special purpose vehicle created under JNNURM for rapid transit system, today signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dream Team Sahara for operationalisation of bus services in Bhubaneswar and Puri.
The newly created mass transit company will ply 125 buses - 100 buses in the city and 25 for Puri - in the first phase and more buses will be inducted depending upon the passenger demand, Urban Development Secretary Arun Kumar Panda told mediapersons.
Fifty standard buses and 50 minibuses will ply on six routes of the city.
The identified routes are Khurda-Master Canteen, Airport-Nandankanan, KIIT-Uttara Chowk, Dumduma-VSS Nagar, Nuagaon-Phulnakhara and Khandagiri- Sai Temple.
Five standard buses and 20 minibuses will ply on three routes - Puri beach road to Konark, Jagannath Temple to Konark and Jagannath Temple to Master Canteen. The buses will ply at the intervals of seven to 15 minutes during peak hours and 15 to 30 minutes during non-peak hours, Panda said.
The proposed passenger fare is reasonable.
A person travelling less than 3 km will pay ` 4 and ` 32 for travelling more than 30 km. One has to pay only ` 6 for travelling more than 3 km and less than 6 km. The upper ceiling for travelling 30 km is ` 29.
The passenger fare will be revised basing on an automatic fare revision formula within stipulated time and as per conditions, said chairman of Dream Team Sahara Nishikanta Mishra.
The Government has procured 125 buses - 55 standard buses and 70 minibuses - out of the financial assistance provided by the Ministry of Urban Development under JNNRUM.
The buses will ply on the identified routes after a month of delivery to the operators, Panda said adding, more routes will be identified for the convenience of passengers.
The Government will provide infrastructure support like depot-cum-terminal, origin and destination terminals and bus stops in a phases. A 4.5 acre of land in Pokhariput has been given for development of a depot-cum-bus terminus and permission has been given to BPTSL for utilisation of the erstwhile OSRTC depot at Puri. The depot at Master Canteen will also be utilised.
The equity holders of BPTSL are Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (40 per cent), Bhubaneswar Development Authority (40 per cent), Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (10 per cent), Puri Municipality (5 per cent) and Puri-Konark Development Authority (5 per cent).
Dream Team Sahara paid a cheque for ` 84 lakh as upfront fee (20 per cent cost of the buses) to the Government.
The MoU was signed by Special Secretary, Commerce and Transport and chief executive officer of BPTSL Guru Ray and the chairman of Dream Team Sahara in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Minister of State for Urban Development Badri Patra and other senior officers.