The air conditioned delux bus services will now be available on inter-district routes. Till date, the AC bus service was only available either inter-state or from the State capital to other districts. There was no provision of AC buses connecting districts to one another.
However, a recent notification of the State Transport Department has provided provisions from plying of intra-state AC buses, with Hazaribag regional transport authority (RTA) being the first to chalk down route plans.
A total of 26 routes have been notified in Hazaribag RTA area where the AC deluxe buses would ply. Some of the major routes include Dhanbad to Jamshedpur, Giridih to Jamshedpur, Hazaribag to Bokaro, Chatra to Giridih, Chatra to Bokaro, Bokaro to Deoghar, Koderma to Deoghar and Koderma to Jamshedpur among many more.
Transport Commissioner Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz said, “The five regional transport authorities of the state have to decided the route plan of these buses and submit it for approval. Once the routes are approved, a notification is issued by the transport department following which, the RTAs can start assigning routes and licenses to various bus owners.”
He added, “Once the routes are notified and the RTA starts inviting applications, anyone interested in plying the buses on these routes can apply.”
However, as the bus routes are decided according the need there is a very small chance that the routes for Palamu and Ranchi division would be covered.
“Palamu has only three districts which are very closely situated so there might not be a need of these buses in the area. As of Ranchi, AC buses are already plying form there every district as it is the state capital so that can also be ruled out.
The other RTAs are making their route plan and once they send it, appropriate action would be taken,” the Commissioner said.
Secretary of Ranchi Bus Owners’ Association, Kishore Mantri praised the initiative of the transport department. “This will be really beneficial for the passengers who have to travel long distance to cities other than Ranchi,” he said.
However, at the same time Mantri pointed out that the routes should be identified in a way that they do not clash with the current routes.
“If a bus is going from one district to another and crosses Ranchi, they should not be allowed to pick up or drop passengers here as it will create bad blood among the bus operators,” he said.