Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Sunday flagged off 25 low-floor hi-tech buses during phase-1 roll out of the 'Gurugaman', Gurugram's City Bus Service, at Sector 10 A city bus depot.
Under the initiative, the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus limited (GMCBl) will be rolling out 200 such buses in multiple phases across the city.
Khattar said twenty-five low-floor buses will ply on route no 212 starting from Sector 10 bus terminal. This will benefit commuters in the city in a big way, he said.
The CM said it will cover all the major junctions including Basai Chowk, Atul Kataria Chowk, IFFCO Chowk, Huda City Centre, Subhash Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk and will conclude at Sector 10 Bus Terminal covering a total distance of about 25 kilometres.
The bus will be incorporated with a mobile application to enable passengers to get all the information about the routes, fares and location of buses on their mobile phones, he added.
With the mobile application, one can also book a ride on the bus of his/her choice and timing. The bus service will run at a frequency of 9 minutes during peak hours and 18 minutes during non-peak hours and will follow a strict timeline as punctuality is the essence of the service, he said.
He said these buses would run on 11 different routes of the city and around 453 Bus Queue shelters are on the anvil, out of which, 150 are ready. Overall, five bus depots will be constructed under the city bus service.
According to the officials three bus depots are being set up in Sector-10A, Sector-54 and Sector-72 for the city bus service in Gurugram. In the next phase, a depot of city bus service would also be erected in Manesar area as a large number of passengers travel from there, they said.
The CM said that in order to promote digital interface, cashless ticketing has been introduced in these buses and a discount of Rs 2 will be given to commuters going digital.
Khattar also informed that optimum use of technology will be seen in these buses with the incorporation of Intelligent Transport Management System, Automatic Vehicle location System, Automatic Fare Collection System, Bus Management System, Passenger Information System, Passenger Announcement System, GPS Tracking, Validator-QR Code Reader and Electronic Ticketing Machines.
He said that the passengers will have access to panic buttons, stop button, etc. Trained Customer Service Agents will guide passengers in digital ticketing. A helpline number: 18001806627 will be available for complaints and suggestions, he added.
The MCG is planning to launch around 500 CNG buses in a phased manner. At present, the Haryana transport department operates a fleet of 115 low floor buses of which 55 are air-conditioned.
As per the plan, the Bus Service is to run 500 buses of which 45% will be air-conditioned. In a pre-proposal survey, the MCG had an estimated potential ridership of three lakh per day.
It is proposed that the MCG was to have 51per cent share in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) followed by 19 per cent share of Haryana government, 25 per cent of Haryana Industrial Development Board and 5% of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).