OdishaPlus Bureau
Technology-driven, citizen-friendly Mo bus service of The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), an Odisha government initiative, was highly lauded at the second day of Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo, 2019, in Lucknow on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Surendra Kumar Badge, IAS and General Manager, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) said Mo Bus model should be emulated by other States.
“All STUs (State Transport Undertaking) should learn from CRUT, Bhubaneswar. Odisha was severely affected by cyclone Fani in the month of May. In spite of the damages incurred during the cyclone, it is commendable that they achieved 1 lakh ridership in just five months.”
With the theme of ‘Accessible and Liveable Cities’, the 12th edition of UMI conference & Expo was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on November 15. Union Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Secretary for Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs Durga Shankar Mishra were also present in the inaugural ceremony. The conference is an excellent platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences for peer learning and mutual benefits.
The event is being hosted by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt. Of India in association with Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited. In view of the success of Mo Bus, Managing Director of CRUT, Arun Bothra was specially invited to make a presentation on the success story. In his presentation on Saturday, he discussed the success story of ‘Mo Bus.’
He said, “Taking forward the vision of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik to provide safe, affordable and sustainable public transport to the citizens of Capital Region, Mo bus has achieved 1 lakh ridership in a short span of time.”
Both highlighted that consumer friendly initiatives like ‘Freedom Monthly Pass’, ‘Newspaper on Wheels’ and installation of maps and route numbers at Bus Queue Shelters (BQS) have been appreciated by our loyal riders. Operational measures like ‘Introduction of Night Out schedule’ at Cuttack has helped us in saving substantially by eliminating dead kilometers.
He further added that public transport like Mo Bus is a service for the people while making an endeavor to minimize the carbon footprints. “It is not a profit-making initiative.” Both compared Mo Bus with metro rail in other states. He said that the metro should be made in big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and New Delhi only. “We need buses not metros in smaller cities.” He gave the example of cities like Lucknow, Kochi and Jaipur metro where average daily ridership is 25000- 30000.
He further emphasized, “For building 1 KM of the metro network, Rs.250 crore is spent on an average. At a fraction of this cost incurred in comparison to MetroRail, today Mo Bus has around average 85000 footfall consistently every day.”Other participants present on the occasion also expressed happiness on the success of Mo Bus.
Bagde and Bothra invited other state teams to visit Bhubaneswar to see the actual operation of Mo Bus and replicate the same in respective states.
A manual ‘Bhubaneswar on the move’, Tools and guidelines for city bus operations was launched on this occasion. German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), a German agency has published this in collaboration with CRUT. The manual talks about the Organisation Development, Transit Planning & Scheduling, and Training & Capacity Development of CRUT.
Bothra thanked GIZ for their help and guidance to Mo Bus management. Over 1000 delegates are participating in the 3-day conference-cum-expo that concluded on Sunday.