GURUGRAM: The second route of the city bus service will be operational from November 23. It will be inaugurated by state PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh, said a senior official from Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Service Limited (GMCBL), the agency responsible for running the service.The 19.7-km route (No. 112) will connect Palam Vihar with Ghata village via sectors 55/56.Though the launch was initially planned to take place before Diwali, it was delayed because some bus shelters and a bus depot in Sector 53 weren’t built on time. Passing through Rezang La Chowk, Udyog Vihar, Shankar Chowk, Cyber City, DLF 2, Sikanderpur, Sushant Lok, Bristol Chowk, DLF 1 and Genpact Chowk, the route will have 76 stoppages. According to sources, 60 bus shelters have already been constructed on this route while 16 others are currently being built by GMCBL. “Around 25 buses will ply on this route, and the new fleet will have low-floor non-AC coaches,” said Dr Chandrashekhar Khare, chief executive officer of GMCBL.Overall, five bus depots will be constructed under the city bus service. Out of these, one depot in Sector 10 is ready, while the Sector 53 depot will soon be functional.The fare structure for the new route will remain the same as the first one — a circular route also called Huda City Centre loop (No. 212). Fares will be Rs 10 for up to first 10 stops, Rs 20 for up to 20 stops and Rs 30 for more than 20 stops. However, a discount of Rs 2 will be offered to those purchasing digital cashless paperless tickets, and the transport department is considering the possibility of reducing fares further to improve ridership. The target passenger count has been estimated at 10,000 per day.The much-awaited and much-delayed bus service was flagged off on September 2 after a delay of three years with a fleet of 25 low-floor, non-AC passenger coaches. So far, the buses have been plying on route No. 212 from Sector 10 bus terminal to Huda City Centre. The 25km route covers most of the key junctions in the city, including Basai Chowk, Atul Kataria Chowk, IFFCO Chowk, Huda City Centre, Subhash Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk and Huda City Centre. Around 9,000 passengers are using the service daily, and the occupancy level is 70% between 8am and 11am.GMCBL has finalised the stoppages for nine more routes under the city bus service — Bus Stand to Manesar (12km), Harsaru to Dundhera (11.9km), Huda City Centre to Dharampuri (13km), Basai Chowk to Huda City Centre (12km), Bus Stand to Farrukhnagar (19.5km), Bus Stand to Palam Vihar (10.5km), Cyber City to Badshapur (17.7km), Bus Stand to Ambience Mall (12.2km) and Sector 56 to Dundahera (16.3km). According to GMCBL officials the service will require 210 buses in total. A total of 453 bus queue shelters will be built across the city, out of which 160 have been constructed so far.Officials said they plan to launch at least one more route and expand the fleet size to 200 by March 2019. All the buses will be equipped with CCTV cameras, panic buttons, public announcement system, wheelchair ramp and passenger information system (PIS) connected to GPS for monitoring and safety purposes. At a later stage, when the city gets an optical fibre network, the buses will also have Wi-Fi connectivity.

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