Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was one of the ordinary passengers today who travelled in a public bus to reach his workplace without security.
After launching the technology-driven ‘Mo Bus’ public transport service at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, the Chief Minister took ride in the bus along with other passengers.
Naveen was seen enjoying his first ever bus ride to the Assembly. He talked to his co-passengers and took selfies with them. The Chief Minister gave his travel fare of Rs 10 to the guide (bus conductor) who returned him Rs 2. He got down the bus in front of the Assembly gate and later paid homage to Pandit Nilakantha Das on his death anniversary inside the Assembly premises.
“I’m glad to launch MO BUS service today which will able to handle traffic in Bhubaneswar,Cuttack and Puri. I’m also happy that the crew members of the buses are passenger-friendly and half of the crew members are women. The buses are also fitted with modern technology like Wi-Fi,” the Chief Minister told media persons.
The new bus service featuring free Wi-Fi, CCTV surveillance, public information display system and on board announcements has been launched as a part of state government-owned Capital Region Urban Transport’s (CRUT) ‘City Bus Modernisation’ programme.
In the first phase, the service will cover nine different routes in the Smart City. The phase-II network of the service will be rolled from 15 November and the third and final phase will be launched from 10 December.
Nearly 300 buses will be introduced in three different phases including 100 buses in the first phase.
The hi-tech bus service also comes with a ‘Mo Bus’ mobile app that facilitates commuters to book tickets using their handheld devices. The app also provides information regarding the locations of the vehicle in order to reduce the waiting time for the travellers.