BHUBANESWAR: The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) will roll out ‘Mo Bus’ service in six more routes in the second phase on Monday. Earlier, the bus service was launched in nine routes in the first phase. The second phase service was supposed to start from November 15. However, there was a slight delay over finalisation of routes.
CRUT officials said the routes have been finalised by transport experts following analysis of passenger behaviour and peak hour demand frequencies of the new bus service. The service in the second phase will include route no 10 covering 21.5 km distance from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) to Nandankanan. As many as 20 buses will ply on this route.
Service in five other routes - Sikharchandi Vihar and Lingipur (22.4 km), Sikharchandi Vihar and Airport (14 km), Rasulgarh and Uttara (12.6 km), Tamando and Rasulgarh (18 km) and Hi-Tech Medical College and Airport Square (10 km) - under the second phase will start before November 28.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had flagged off the ‘Mo Bus’ service along with the mobile app on November 6 to provide citizens with a tech-driven, smart and affordable bus service ahead of the Hockey Men’s World Cup in the Capital. As many as 125 buses were introduced in the first phase on nine routes including Master Canteen Terminal to Khurda New Bus Stand via Vani Vihar and Master Canteen Terminal to Khurda New Bus Stand via the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology.
The buses are equipped with features such as in-vehicle CCTV cameras and free Wi-Fi facility. The vehicles also have women conductors. The high-tech bus service is assisted with the ‘Mo Bus’ mobile app through which users can track the location of nearby bus stops/queue shelters and arrival time of buses.
The bus service operates from 7 am to 10 pm and minimum fare for the service is `7.