Mo Bus gets the top award of country

Bhubaneswar: Mobus, the city bus service of Capital Region, has won the top award of the country for second time in a row.

The award has been given by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in a national level conference yesterday evening.

The 13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference was held online on Monday.

This conference is organised by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India every year.

The theme was ‘Innovations undertaken in Urban Transport during Covid-19’. After evaluating the majors taken by various bus companies across the country, the national jury decided to award the first prize- Award of Excellence to Capital Region Urban Transport, Odisha.

In an online programme, Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, gave away the awards. Arun Bothra, Managing Director, CRUT received the award.

On this occasion, Durga Shankar Mishra and other delegates praised CRUT for its innovative methods to keep commuters safe from Covid-19.

Speaking on the occasion, Arun Bothra said, “We are thrilled to receive UMI award two times in a row.”

 He thanked Govt. of India for this recognition and said, “This will motivate us to provide better services to the commuters while taking all precautions.”

Bothra said that the award to CRUT reflects the seriousness of Govt. of Odisha about Covid measures.

He further added, “The COVID-19 measures taken by the state Govt. are considered one of the best in the country. We are happy that MoBus has lived up to the expectation of the Govt. as well as people of the Capital Region and enhanced the reputation of Odisha in terms of Covid management.”

Bothra said, “After resumption of service post lockdown, our top priority was safety of the passengers. We treat our crew and commuters as our family members and ensure their safety like we do for our own family. From the very beginning of pandemic, CRUT team ensured safety of passengers and crew. No standing passengers were allowed to travel in the buses. Wearing of mask was made compulsory for all the passengers while they commute in MoBus.”

“After the resumption of service, people were unwillingly to travel in public transport. To get back the faith and trust of the customers, we decided to be transparent. Through social media and press coverage we informed how we were disinfecting all buses with a high level disinfectant at regular intervals. Commuters regained confidence over a period of time and more people have started commuting in Mobus,” he said.

Currently 109 buses are operating on 17 routes with around 26000 passengers per day.

Dipti Mahapatro, General Manager, CRUT said, “Even when our regular service was suspended for daily commuters, we continued to serve the citizens. Mo Bus services were running so that emergency services could run.

We are glad to contribute a little in the war against COVID-19 by providing dedicated bus service to emergency helpline & health workers. We gave support to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation in its endeavour to serve citizens of Bhubaneswar during this crisis. Mo Bus was used for delivery of essential items in the containment zones of city.”