BHUBANESWAR: When Virat Kolhi and Eoin Morgan touched down at Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Wednesday afternoon with their team members, two smashing red Volvo buses awaited to ferry them to the hotel and Barabati Stadium at Cuttack.
For a change, those were not private buses employed by Odisha Cricket Association (OCA). Boldly embossed on all sides of the two vehicles were OSRTC which not only stands for Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) but had also once acquired notoriety for its rickety buses and shoddy service.
The Corporation did not even have fleet of decent deluxe buses, let alone high-end luxury coaches. Once known to connect nook and cranny of the State, the good old ‘government bus’ had almost been shunned by the commuting public.
That seems to be a thing of the past now. By aligning with a high-profile event like a One Day International between India and England, the State PSU seems to have hit a sixer and made a statement. Its brand image has just climbed a few notches.
After years of poor performance, OSRTC ticked all the right boxes for most parts of 2016 under a new dispensation. Ticketing was made online, hand-held devices were provided to conductors and buses started operating on new routes.
Then it decided to enter the luxury travel segment where private players held control. As many as six each Volvo and Scania buses were procured. These buses, each costing about Rs 94 lakh and fitted with Black Boxes, are mostly programmed with sensors controlling the operations. Trained drivers were brought in and unused staff were dispensed with. Two of these Volvo buses are now operating between Puri and Kolkata and have started making profit. The OSRTC has now made applications to the Government for Bhubaneswar-Baripada and Barbil-Kolkata routes. Thirty more deluxe buses, made by Ashok Leyland, will be delivered by next week for operation to each district under the Rajdhani scheme.
‘’Did anyone think Indian cricketers would be travelling by OSRTC buses? People never associated our buses with polished staff, services like public address systems greeting travellers, informing them about stoppages and travel time and provision for blankets and water which is a reality now. The public perception has changed and so has the confidence level of the Corporation,’’ said an OSRTC official.
So when the ODI at Cuttack was announced about two and a half months back, the OSRTC management was the first to contact OCA offering its service. The sports body sought an offer letter which was dispatched in no time. A liaison officer was appointed once the OCA okayed the proposal and sought the service for four days - January 17 to 20. What better way than an International cricket match to advertise that it has come around.
