New bus service in Faridabad by Dec

Bijendra Ahlawat

Local commuters in Faridabad, who are fed up with the rickety city bus service run by the Haryana Roadways, will get a new service under the Smart City Project by year-end. Faridabad Smart City Limited (FSCL) has announced to start a city bus service in December this year. 

A FSCL spokesperson says that Faridabad City Transport Service Limited (FCTSL), a separate agency instituted by the state government, will run the new bus service. As many as 90 buses will be run in the first phase of the service to be launched in December. The city will get a total of 595 buses by 2031, according to the plan prepared by the FCTSL. 

Monika Gupta, CEO of FCTSL, says that while the city buses will be known as Midi buses, each one of it will have a carrying capacity of 42 passengers at a time. All buses will run on environment-friendly CNG, and 40 air-conditioned buses will serve as feeders to various Metro Rail stations in the city. The remaining 50 buses that will run on the city roads will not be air-conditioned. The FCTSL will soon start the work on developing the basic infrastructure such as bus stops (shelters) and terminals across the city so that the service can be effectively launched in due time. With two terminals proposed in Sectors 12 and 61, a minimum of 310 bus shelters will be developed on the public private partnership (PPP) mode. It will be the first time that the city bus service will connect the NIT area with Greater Faridabad where a large number of group housing and builder societies have come up. 

A budget of Rs 463 crore meant for the bus service will not be taken out of the smart city project, but will be separately generated under the PPP mode. The state government will provide Rs 163 crore while the remaining Rs 300 crore will be generated through private partnership. A private company will operate the buses. “Tenders for 90 buses in the first phase are expected to be floated shortly as the Cabinet Sub Committee for Infrastructure headed by the Chief Minister has already approved the proposal,” says Gupta. A total of 595 buses will be start operating by 2031, he adds.  A total of 19 routes have been selected for the service, though changes can be made later, according to demands or suggestions by the public.

All buses will be equipped with CCTV cameras and GPS and will be directly connected with the Integrated Command and Control Centre supervised by the traffic police. Besides a Passenger Information System, a panic button will be available for use in case of an emergency. Electronic ticket vending machines will be installed at every bus stop. The buses will be available at a frequency of every five to six minutes on the Metro routes and in six to eight minutes on regular city routes.  

The new bus service is expected to replace the old buses run by the Haryana Roadways. Though the Haryana Roadways had started 150 buses initially, it has now been left with only 40 to 50 buses operating only on six routes, including Faridabad-Gurugram and Faridabad-Delhi. “With no proper bus stands or shelters, and information or help desk for commuters, the bus service has been poor,” says SK Sharma, a social activist. 

He adds that the poor local transport facility has paved the way for the growth of auto-rickshaws in the city, resulting in traffic chaos, pollution and insecurity of women commuters.