In a bid to provide better public transport ahead of upcoming festival in the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida, the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), the Noida authority and Greater Noida authority on Tuesday inked a tripartite agreement to start 50 AC buses by October 10 under the long-awaited integrated city bus service scheme.
Sanjay Aggrawal, chairman of all the three authorities, said the buses have been finalised to ply on Noida roads and the consultant UNTC (Urban Mass Transit Company) — management body for city bus service — has prepared the plans to provide service for passenger on six routes.
“We have finalised 50 modern, air-conditioned, low-floor CNG buses each at a cost of `1 crore to run on six routes in the first phase. The decision was taken to solve public transport woes during festive season. However, the facility of 50 other non-A/C buses will be started two months later in December,” said Aggrawal, adding, “These buses will be run under four connectivity — Noida Metro feeder route, Noida, Greater Noida and between Noida and Greater Noida. We are yet to finalise bus fares.”
Santosh Yadav, MD, NMRC said that city bus service project is aimed to address the public transport woes in Noida and Greater Noida.
Speaking about the bus service, he said, “We have done trials for the city bus services on six routes. The buses will be technically equipped with Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS) and GPS. CCTV cameras will be installed inside the buses to monitor women security issues,” said Yadav.
“Ramps service facility will be incorporated in the buses to drive differently-abled passengers on wheel chair. The passenger will be able to find bus locations and book tickets through a mobile app. Real-time update of respective destination will be displayed inside the buses and the passengers at bus shelter will also update themselves. A 24x7 call centre will be started soon. Bus tickets will be integrated with Metro cards issued by NMRC,” said Yadav, adding, “Botanical Garden bus stop has been decided for traffic hub of NMRC buses. The operation of these buses will be taken from Sector-88 Noida bus depot. We have constructed some bus shelters and rest has been placed on the fast track.”
The NMRC has proposed total 392 buses on 27 routes under this scheme but it would be started in a phased manner.