City bus service to be rolled out in 9 cities of Haryana

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, September 24

To provide cheap and comfortable transport to the common man, decongest city roads and reduce vehicular pollution, the Haryana Transport Department is all set to roll out city bus service operations in nine cities of the state.

After its success in Gurugram and Faridabad, the bus service will now be introduced in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak and Hisar — all cities with municipal corporations — and Rewari.

According to information, a Letter of Intent for the supply of 375 electric buses has already been placed with the bus company, while a ground survey is being carried out in all cities by a private agency for route-planning to ply these buses. The agency is likely to submit its report to the department by the end of next month. Each of these cities is likely to get up to 50 buses.

To usher in the services, new bus depots are being set up at a cost of over Rs 12 crore per city, for which city-wise administrative approval of cost has already been issued by the state government.

While new bus depots will be constructed in seven cities, a part of the existing old bus stands in Jagadhari and Panipat will be converted for use as city bus service depots.

“CM Manohar Lal Khattar announced the city bus service plan in 2022, which is now ready to be rolled out in record time in nine more cities. The CM is monitoring the project since it has been conceived to provide a pocket-friendly mode of transport to the common man, while addressing the problems of traffic and vehicular pollution,” said Navdeep Singh Virk, Principal Secretary, Transport.

The bus services will be launched in Panipat and Yamunanagar by the year-end and in the remaining cities by April.

“A separate state transport undertaking — Haryana City Bus Service Limited (HCBSL) — has been set up and officers have been appointed to various posts. The DIMTS has been appointed as consultant to help execute the project,” state Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma said.

With the start of these services, Haryana will become the first state to have a single corporation operating city bus services in various cities. HCBSL will be using the latest technology for fleet management and fare collection to provide efficient services.