Bus: Minister hints at Mo Bus name change |
Bhubaneswar: Housing and urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra on Wednesday said they would work on dropping the name ‘Mo bus’ from all city buses being run by Capital Region Urban Transport (Crut).
After taking a bus ride from Master Canteen to Press Square on Wednesday, the minister hinted at changing the name into something that would send a ‘people-friendly’ signal.“Our govt gives priority to needs of people. There is nothing in I and mine. It will be changed,” he told media. ‘Mo’ in English means mine and the previous BJD govt had given the name, much like many of its flagship programmes which started with Mo. This was Mahapatra’s first city bus ride after he took charge as minister. He interacted with the commuters and enquired about their experience in daily commuting. Managing director of Crut Arun Bothra accompanied him.
Mahapatra said 400 more buses will be added to the current fleet in five cities with 100 each in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack under the PM e-bus Seva programme.
“The city bus service is convenient, sustainable and a safe commuting option. Number of buses will be increased based on the need of citizens. We are checking the requirement in various places,” the minister said.At present, Crut is operates 463 buses on 95 routes in the capital region (Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda and Puri) and outside capital region, such as Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur, with average ridership of 2.5 lakhs per day. Crut has been operating since 2018 and it has altogether 63 e-buses out of the total buses being run. It has been proposed to run 100 e-buses in Rourkela and 50 in Sambalpur after the new e-buses are procured. “We should not have more than 15 minutes of interval in arrival at bus stops,” Mahapatra added.
In 2022, Crut received Smart Solution Challenge and Inclusive Cities Award, 2022 from the Centre for innovative, inclusive and safe public transport services. Since its inception in 2018, Crut has taken several initiatives to improve public transport in twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It has introduced e-rickshaw as well which is operated by women and transgender. It offers 50% concession to senior citizens. Mahapatra, however, hasn’t said if the look of city buses will be changed like LAccMI (Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative) buses, an initiative of the previous govt which is now being renamed as Mukhymantri Bus Seva and the white and green coloured buses are now being painted saffron.
The BJP govt is also dropping schemes of the previous govt, like Mo School and 5T schools. In many schools, boards and wall paintings have been removed while 5T is also being removed.
After taking a bus ride from Master Canteen to Press Square on Wednesday, the minister hinted at changing the name into something that would send a ‘people-friendly’ signal.“Our govt gives priority to needs of people. There is nothing in I and mine. It will be changed,” he told media. ‘Mo’ in English means mine and the previous BJD govt had given the name, much like many of its flagship programmes which started with Mo. This was Mahapatra’s first city bus ride after he took charge as minister. He interacted with the commuters and enquired about their experience in daily commuting. Managing director of Crut Arun Bothra accompanied him.
Mahapatra said 400 more buses will be added to the current fleet in five cities with 100 each in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack under the PM e-bus Seva programme.
“The city bus service is convenient, sustainable and a safe commuting option. Number of buses will be increased based on the need of citizens. We are checking the requirement in various places,” the minister said.At present, Crut is operates 463 buses on 95 routes in the capital region (Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda and Puri) and outside capital region, such as Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur, with average ridership of 2.5 lakhs per day. Crut has been operating since 2018 and it has altogether 63 e-buses out of the total buses being run. It has been proposed to run 100 e-buses in Rourkela and 50 in Sambalpur after the new e-buses are procured. “We should not have more than 15 minutes of interval in arrival at bus stops,” Mahapatra added.
In 2022, Crut received Smart Solution Challenge and Inclusive Cities Award, 2022 from the Centre for innovative, inclusive and safe public transport services. Since its inception in 2018, Crut has taken several initiatives to improve public transport in twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It has introduced e-rickshaw as well which is operated by women and transgender. It offers 50% concession to senior citizens. Mahapatra, however, hasn’t said if the look of city buses will be changed like LAccMI (Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative) buses, an initiative of the previous govt which is now being renamed as Mukhymantri Bus Seva and the white and green coloured buses are now being painted saffron.
The BJP govt is also dropping schemes of the previous govt, like Mo School and 5T schools. In many schools, boards and wall paintings have been removed while 5T is also being removed.
