Roadways dreams up 30 more buses for city

GURGAON: Haryana Roadways is yet again ready with a plan for the city bus service. After failing to launch 100 buses for the same service, officials are now claiming to bring in 30 buses, including 20 airconditioned ones, by the end of this month.
Moreover, under another “ambitious” project, the roadways plans to launch 20 Volvo buses on the Delhi-Chandigarh route.The 20 AC buses are being brought from Ashok Leyland and will be low-floor, while the other 10 normal buses are being manufactured by Haryana Roadways Engineering Corporation (HREC).
Officials clarified the service will be provided by the roadways itself and not being executed under the public private partnership (PPP) model. While the routes are yet to be finalized, the buses will connect old Gurgaon with new Gurgaon and connect Gurgaon with Dhaula Kuan in Delhi, Manesar, Faridabad and Ballabgarh. General manager Yashendra Singh said, “The routes would be finalized soon. The city bus service will be successful if buses connect the city to other nearby cities.” Singh added that a special attention would be given on connecting them to metro stations while finalizing the routes. The fare would be similar to charges in buses running on city routes. For general buses, fare charges of Rs 5, 10 and 15 are fixed, while Rs 10, 15 and 20 have been fixed for AC ones. Singh said that the department hopes to start the service by the end of this month. Along with the city bus service, 20 Volvo buses would also make their entry at the same time.
These buses would primarily be used to improve the connectivity between Delhi and Chandigarh, whereas some of them would ply from Gurgaon to the capital city. “The service is going to be the best and the country and we hope to increase the frequency to 20 to 25 minutes from Delhi and every one hour from Gurgaon,” Singh said. A team of 30 drivers have already been selected to undergo a training session in running Volvo buses by the company in Bengaluru.