BHUBANESWAR : In a goodwill gesture, the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) on Saturday revised the timings of city bus service Mo Bus in one of its routes for the convenience of school students.
It all started when Sai Anwesh Amrutam Pradhan, a student of MBS Public School in the city, took to Twitter to register his grievance sharing how he is facing trouble in reaching school on time due to change in the timing of Mo Bus on the route no-13.
“My reporting time at school is sharp 7.30 am. Unfortunately, the first bus on route no-13 leaves at 7.40 from Lingipur. For this, I am facing a lot of problems and reaching school late,” wrote Sai in his tweet tagging the official handles of CRUT and its MD senior IPS officer Arun Bothra. Within hours, Bothra, known for his prompt response and people-friendly approach, replied to Sai saying that the timing of the bus will be changed to 7 am from Monday onwards and that he won’t be late for his school anymore.
Mo Bus moves with love of commuters like you, Bothra tweeted. The swift move earned huge appreciation from different quarters. Bothra said it was possible because of the CRUT team that works actively in making the service commuter friendly. “After the tweet, operation team was asked if it is feasible to change bus timings on the route and decision in this regard was taken quickly,” he said.
Previously, the CRUT had launched special bus service for civil service candidates, while a Mo Bus guide with the help of a traffic controller had returned a purse, containing passport, cash and multiple cards to a tourist from Portugal who had left it in the bus before alighting at the city airport. The CRUT MD said that such public oriented moves have helped Mo Bus to emerge as one of the best city bus services in the country.
Besides, he highlighted the role social media plays in bridging the gap between people and government. “This is the power of social media. If used in the right direction, it will prove beneficial for people in many ways,” Bothra said. The Mo Bus service has won the Award of Excellence twice including last year for innovations in Urban Transport during Covid-19 and has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) India for its initiatives such as ‘Mo Story’ to sensitise the commuters and ‘Mo Card’ for cashless and contactless ticketing.