Smart city bus service with technology driven features very soon by CRUT

Bhubaneswar: The city is going to have a technology-driven citizen friendly city bus service, which is likely to be launched on November 6.

The bus service will also use smart technology like mobile app through which citizens can book their tickets and also get to know the locations of the vehicle and minimise their waiting time at their nearby bus queue shelters (BQS) or bus stops.

Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), the special purpose vehicle for the pan-city public transport administration through city buses, has already received 125 buses for registration. While the company has undertaken the registration formalities of the vehicles, 75 more buses are likely to join the fleet very soon.

The Housing and Urban Development Department and the Transport Department are jointly working out modalities to make the city bus service a memorable and unique affair for all types of commuters across the city.

The new city buses, besides having technology-driven features, will be intelligently designed urban features as they would be featured with spacious cabin space. Designed as per the Urban Bus Design Code, the buses will be comfortable for use of urban public and far better than the private-owned public transport buses.

The mobile app for the city bus service will be both in Android and iOS operating systems and a desktop variant to track the locations of nearby BQS, checking arrival times of buses. The BQS will also have advanced features like digital screens to display the bus route numbers and the arrival times so that the waiting passengers would benefit.

The bus operation along with the mobile app will be integrated with the command and control centre of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, commonly known as Bhubaneswar Operations Centre (BOC).

Through the vehicle tracking system facility, the experts sitting at the BOC can also monitor the bus services and also coordinate with the mobile App service.

CRUT has plans to induct new buses under its ambitious Bhubaneswar City Bus Modernization Plan (BCBMP). After a detailed demand analysis by a leading transport consulting firm, it has decided to revamp the existing public transport facility in three phases spanning over 2018 to 2027.

Along with it, 200 new BQS are also being developed to provide passenger convenience. Out of the new BQS, 100 shall have cycle docking facilities to provide last mile connectivity to the commuters.

During the second phase of BCBMP, it will introduce 90 electric buses and shall develop special depot facilities to maintain these electric buses. It was also envisaged a plan to add 300 more BQS during this phase.

In the third phase, 300 new buses shall be procured in newly developed or uncovered areas of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack. Along with the buses, three depots shall also be developed. In between this phase, old buses shall be replaced with new buses and additional BQS shall be installed in Cuttack and Puri area.