From Oct, service availed by 5 lakh passengers
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Jan 2: The recently introduced e-buses, commonly known as the ‘Red Buses’, are becoming increasingly popular on city routes, with occupancy reported to have jumped nearly 6 times since their launch in October of last year.
Officials told ‘Excelsior’ that the response from the people has remained immense, with the sole factor being the ease of travel coupled with the availability of these buses on the 14 designated routes.
Athar Amir, who is also the CEO of Srinagar Smart City Limited, informed that nearly 5 lakh people have availed the service of the buses in the last 60 days, terming it as the biggest achievement so far.
He also mentioned that since their launch, these buses have covered a total distance of nearly 7 lakh kilometers on the designated routes, which fall within the city as well as the outskirts, depicting these buses as the preferred mode of commute in Srinagar.
“At the same time, the occupancy of these buses has also gone up 5-6 times in the past 2 months. We launched these buses on October 1 last year, and they started moving on the city routes from October 2 and 3. Since then, we have witnessed an increase in overall occupancy,” he said.
It is to be noted here that a brand new Tata-made fleet of buses was launched earlier in Srinagar by LG Manoj Sinha, who affirmed the administration’s commitment to putting in place efficient transport for the ease and comfort of the people.
Interestingly, the service has also become more effective due to a mobile application that has all the details about the buses plying on different routes in Srinagar.
The application shows the real-time locations of the buses, and once the passengers provide their locations, they are also given the expected time of the bus’s arrival, making availing the service more convenient.
Talking about the key learning from the process of ensuring the proper functioning of these buses and the effective coverage of the same so that more people benefit from it, Athar said that a lot was learned and achieved while ensuring the proper monitoring of the service and putting in place the necessary infrastructure.
It is to be noted here that as of now, 75 such e-buses are plying across the city on 14 designated routes, with people also acknowledging the improved transport service in the city.
“Daily travel has become smooth, and the overall availability of public transport has also improved, especially after these buses were launched; it has turned out to be a relief for women passengers as well,” said Latief Ahmad, one of the commuters.
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