Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 16: Municipal authorities are planning to increase the frequency of city buses plying to the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA), from December.
Plans are underway to improve the frequency of buses from the existing 30 minutes to 10 minutes, stated Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) Traffic & Transport engineer/planner Rajesh Kumar Sahoo. “The plan is envisaged to improve the city’s public transport system and to encourage the public to use public transport by making it convenient, popular, and punctual,” Sahoo said.
BPTSL urban transport expert Sayan Roy said BPTSL would operate buses using two bus routes in the city – one from Vani Vihar to BPIA and the other from Nandankanan to BPIA. BPTSL is scheduled to operate about 10 buses daily to BPIA as of now, but operational constraints have limited the bus operator to operating only seven buses daily, officials said.
Officials however said the future of bus operations would largely depend on the availability of passengers going to BPIA, which is a major issue.
Plans are also underway to increase the number of trips that each bus makes to BPIA from the present seven to twelve in the coming months, said officials.
Meanwhile, City Bus Transporting Systems has decided to increase the number of buses plying in the city from the existing 160 to 185 by October, said officials. A bus shelter outside the airport is also planned by authorities, and is expected to be built in two months, BPTSL officials said.
Welcoming the decision by municipal authorities, BPIA director Sharad Kumar has said it would it would help make it easier for passengers travelling to the airport.
BPIA officials said they have allotted land measuring about 40 ft X 6 ft to build the bus shelter in front of the airport. The proposed shelter is part of the three model bus shelters, which have been designed by the planning cell of BPTSL and will be built under PPP mode.