Now, city commuters can enjoy their bus-ride during scorching heat of summer as four air-conditioned (AC) buses were launched on Friday in Bhubaneswar which will cover the Airport-Master Canteen-Acharya Vihar-KIIT Campus-Nandankanan route.
According to Chief Executive Officer of Dream Team Sahara (DTS) Sudhansu Jena, passengers have to pay a minimum Rs 16 for first 3 km and an additional charge of Rs 2 per every extra km as ticket charge for the AC buses. The buses have been supplied by a lucknow-based firm and each has 35 seats and is equipped with CCTV cameras and the GPS monitoring system, he added.
In the first phase, DTS Chairman Nishikanta Mishra said, four AC city buses would run from the Biju Patnaik Airport to Nandankanan via KIIT in route no-207-A. The buses would run from 7.30 am to 9 pm every day.
In the second phase, Mishra informed, it has been decided to run four AC city buses in route no-171 from Bhubaneswar to Puri which would begin their journey from the Baramunda bus-stand in State capital to Puri via Master Canteen within May 7. Besides, AC buses would also be introduced from CDA Sector in Cuttack to Bhubaneswar in route no-141, he added.
Notably, the State Government recently sanctioned Rs20 crore to the Housing and Urban Development Department for these AC buses. Each bus costs around Rs40 lakh, sources informed.