OdishaPlus Bureau
Mo Bus has crossed a daily ridership of 1 lakh on Monday. Achieving a major milestone is not a small job. 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.
According to officials, a total of 101881 passengers took Mo Bus for their commute. On November 66, 2018 Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the service with the objective of providing a sustainable, comfortable and economically viable mode of transport for people of the Capital Region.
The usual footfall is around 80000 per day. 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.
It is 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.
After Cyclone Fani, the ridership had declined to 30000-35000 per day. However, with the effort by the CRUT team and constant support of our commuters, it has gained significant ridership in the last three months.
“In the month of May, our ridership was around 33000 and revenue also came down to Rs 5 lakhs. The consistent effort led to rise in ridership and revenue in September with an average of 80000 passengers and Rs. 11.6 lakhs per day respectively,” said Dipti Mahapatro, General Manager, Personnel and Administration & spokesperson, CRUT. ‘It is dream come true, achieving this magical figure a good two months ahead of the projected target of December 2019’, Dipti Mahapatro said.
The Housing and Urban Development Department had set a target to make the Mo Bus services available to 1 lakh passengers in Bhubaneswar, Khurda, and Cuttack by December 2019.
She credited this milestone to the riders for their trust. Mohapatro said currently we are having a fleet of 200 buses. There is a need and demand for more buses with an increase in footfall.
She said 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. 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 the FAME India scheme phase II for intra-city and intercity operation to give a push to clean mobility in public transportation.