Bhubaneswar: ‘Mo Bus’, the city bus service in the capital region completed two years of its existence, Friday.
The ‘Mo Bus’ service proved that two years were more than enough to script a success story.
Commuters mostly students and service holders prefer ‘Mo Bus’ over other private buses for its cleanliness and punctuality. Besides different locations in Bhubaneswar, these buses take passengers to Cuttack, Khurda, Puri and Konark as well.
According to sources in Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), a company constituted by the Odisha government, ‘Mo Bus’ service crossed 1,13,000-mark of per day passenger ridership in the month of February in 2020, and in 2019 won several national-level awards under various categories.
But the lockdowns and shutdowns after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the service hard. However, the situation has gradually improved ever since the state government lifted curbs on movement of vehicles on roads. As of now, between 20,000 and 26,000 passengers are availing the service each day. As the tourism season is ahead, the number is expected to go up.
The CRUT authorities are also hoping to win national-level awards this year too. The authorities have ascribed the success of ‘Mo Bus’ to its sincere and hardworking staff.
‘Mo Cycle’ is also celebrating its second birthday Friday. Earlier run by CRUT, the service is presently being managed by Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation (BMC). But this service is still struggling for existence. The failure of ‘Mo Cycle’ can be ascribed to lack of proper management and awareness. As of now, these cycles can be found abandoned on the streets.
‘Mo Bus’ and ‘Mo Cycle’ were launched November 6, 2018.
PNN