Mo Bus crosses 1 lakh riders in a day

Bhubaneswar: Achieving a major milestone, Mo Bus has crossed a daily ridership of 1 lakh on Monday.

This remarkable feat has been achieved in a short span of time, less than a year of starting the operation of Mo Bus.

By achieving this substantial number of ridership, Mo Bus, the public transit service run by Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), has established itself as a major mass transit facility in the capital region.

On Monday, a total of 1,01,881 passengers took Mo Bus for their commute, said a CRUT official.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on November 6 last year inaugurated the Mo Bus service with the objective of providing sustainable, comfortable and economically viable mode of transport for people of the capital region.

Since its inception, this was the first time that Mo Bus carried over 1 lakh passengers on a single day. The usual footfall is around 80000 per day, said the official.

Mo Bus ridership used to be around 70000 till the month of August. After the amendment in the Motor Vehicle Act, there was a sudden rise in ridership touching around 97,000 passengers on September 6 and around 94,000 on September 8.

However, it is very heartening to see that Mo Bus has been able to retain those commuters. Consumer-friendly initiatives like ‘Freedom Monthly Pass’, ‘Newspaper on Wheels’ and ‘Penalty for ticketless travelers’ have been appreciated by our loyal riders.

Currently, CRUT is having a fleet of 200 buses. There is a need and demand for more buses with an increase in footfall. In the next two-three months, the network will be expanded and 50 old buses will be added to the fleet after refurbishment, the work for which has started already, the official said.

Out of 50 buses, 30 are from Cuttack, 10 are from Balasore and another 10 are from Bhubaneswar. Moreover, as many as 50 electric buses (E-buses) have been sectioned by the Department of Heavy Industry under FAME India scheme phase II for intra-city and intercity operation to give a push to clean mobility in public transportation.