As the question about the operator of Ranchi Municipal Corporation owned city bus services is settled the focus has shifted back to improving the quality of service to passengers who avail the services of the largest transport infrastructure owned by any organisation. The new operator vowed to improve experiences for every single penny paid by passengers.
The municipal body selected M/s Kishore Mantri Travels to operate city bus service from April 1, the deadline fixed by the earlier owner, Jhakhand Tourism Development Corporation, to take over the reins of the service that is provided under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The firm will pay Rs138.50 per bus to RMC as quoted by it in the bid document.
“Everything has been finalised and we are ready to begin services from April 1. Our priority is providing timely services and also to ensure security to women commuters. We are preparing a road map to deliver better services to the commuters,” said owner of the firm, Kishore Mantri.
The road map as conceptualised by the new owner includes presence of police personnel in the buses especially from evening up to 9pm, the time when bus services will cease to operate. The appointed operator is likely to add more buses on routes where more people travel through public transport system. The buses as usual will begin start running from 5 am. Besides, the travel company has also asked for office from the RMC to carry out their operations. All the formalities regarding change of guards are likely to be complete by March 25.
“We have demanded office space preferably at old bus stand and also a place to station the buses which we will be running from April 1,” added Mantri. The travel company will begin operations with 40 buses and will get additional 29 buses later. The company will provide Rs10-lakh towards security deposit. The municipal body expressed that it will closely watch the operation and services provided by the selected bidder. “Interest of a passenger is supreme and we have made it clear that we want good services to people who use city buses to commute within the city,” said Senior PRO, RMC, Ramkrishna Kumar.
Incidentally, the city buses were scheduled to become responsibility of RMC from January 1, 2015 however the municipal body had failed to prepare ground work for takeover from JTDC. The tourism corporation had then threatened to ground the bus service thus forcing the urban civic body to negotiate terms and deadline of assuming responsibility of the public transport system.