Chandigarh to add 40 AC long-haul buses

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Chandigarh, August 25

For the convenience of travellers, the UT Transport Department will soon add 40 new AC buses to its existing fleet for long haul.

Pradhuman Singh, Director, Transport, said half of the total 40 buses would arrive by this month-end and tender had been floated for the remaining 20, which would be procured by the end of December.

Singh said the new buses would be added to the existing fleet of 167 Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses running on long-distance routes.

An official said the department was planning to run these buses on the Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand sections.

Along with proper arrangement for luggage, the new buses will have air-conditioning and heating facilities. The front destination board will be LED-based, with each bus having 47 seats. Also, CCTV cameras will have to be provided in these buses, with the department already making such a provision for most of its buses on local routes. Besides, the department has started the Intelligent Transport System Project, providing live status of the movement of bus. However, passengers may have to pay more for the new AC bus service. Recently, the department had launched 54 new routes for the CTU buses. Among these were six long-distance, nine suburban and 11 tricity routes.

As many as 54 new buses have been put into operation on an equal number of routes. The new routes include AC bus service to Khatu Shyam and Salasar Dham. Both these buses operate from the ISBT, Sector 17, Chandigarh.

The official said the CTU was making efforts to bring its fleet utilisation to above 90 per cent. With the launch of the new routes, the CTU looks to increase its daily operational capacity by 18,000 km, earning an estimated extra revenue receipt of Rs 6 lakh per day, besides providing a safe, comfortable, efficient and economical transport to the general public. The new long-distance buses from the city connect Khatu Shyam, Salasar Dham, Jaipur and Tanakpur.

167 in CTU’s current fleet

• New buses will be added to existing fleet of 167 Chandigarh Transport Undertaking buses for long-distance travel
• These buses will run on the Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand sections

On-board facilities

• Adequate luggage space
• Air-conditioning/heating
• LED-based destination board
• 47 seat capacity
• CCTV cameras | Live tracker