Vadodara: The city bus service model adopted by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is set to be replicated throughout the state. The state budget tabled in the assembly on Tuesday gives a fair hint in this regard as it talks about funding of city bus service contracts based on rates per kilometre.The VMC that used to charge premium from is bus service operator decided against doing so and came up with a spruced up city bus service as a part of its smart city projects. The civic body decided to operate the buses by providing viability gap funding to the operator.The VMC provides Rs 18 per kilometre to the operator for the city bus service. The operator has so far pressed 150 buses into operation. These include 75 new buses and 75 old buses. The operator will have to phase out 10 old buses every year and replace them with new ones. This will ensure that rickety buses do not remain on road like the experience so far.VMC officials said that the project was discussed during meeting of civic chiefs and officials of the urban development department. VMC officials shared details of the project with the department.The state budget also mentions that the government will provide Rs 290 crore to eight municipal corporations and 22 Class A municipalities to operate buses on an annual contract at rates for every kilometre. It has proposed to fund the operations of 2,864 buses in this way.If the VMC is to be believed the plan is bearing results. The operator had around 50 buses on road and covered 20 routes till August last year. The buses ferried 30,000 to 35,000 passengers a day covering 8,000km. By June 31 this year, the operator had 150 buses on road and ferried 1.2lakh passengers every day. The number of students holding bus passes also increased from around 25,000 to around 70,000.The system ensured that the bus service was expanded without making any investments. Also, the buses will have WiFi on board. The buses will also have LED displays and cellular phone chargers. The operator will have to ensure that 20 per cent of the buses deployed in the city are air-conditioned. All the buses plying in the city will have to be CNG buses for energy efficiency and a cleaner environment.

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