Gurgaon: The Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) on Wednesday began bus services between IFFCO Chowk metro station and Badha village in Sector 82. Initially, two buses will run on this stretch and the frequency would be increased after assessing the footfall, officials said.
This is the second route on which bus services have been resumed in two days – on Tuesday, services between Rajesh Pilot Chowk and Daultabad (route 116) had recommenced. Local residents, however, say that resuming bus services on the two routes connecting the new sectors would be of little benefit if the frequency of buses were not increased.
Santosh Mishra, a resident of sector 82, told TOI, that the GMCBL needed to increase the number of vehicles running along the two routes. “Having bus routes in the newly developed sectors of Gurgaon will definitely help residents, but its utility will be very limited unless the frequency of buses is increased. Having only two buses running along these routes means it’s a given that they will be running after long intervals. This means anyone who intends to use them will have to plan well in advance, which is not always possible. Just starting new routes is not enough,” he said.
After the bus services on the two routes were discontinued 18 months back in view of the coronavirus pandemic, a large section of residents of these newly developed areas of Gurgaon had to depend on private transport. In absence of seamless last-mile connectivity, TOI had reported, commuting, even going to office, airport or railway station, had become a major problem for residents.
Nishant Upadhyay, a resident of Sector 84, who moved to Gurgaon from Delhi last year, said, “I prefer buses because they’re much cheaper than the cabs. I was used to taking DTC buses to my college in Delhi. But it was much more convenient because I knew that if I missed one, the next would come along in the next 10 minutes. Here, if I plan to take a bus to my office near Signature Towers, I know that I’ll have to wait for around 40 minutes if I have missed one.”
Unless the frequency is increased, Upadhyay added, many like him may not be eager to plan their travel schedule according to bus timings.
“Initially, two buses will run along the new route and it will have 22 stops. The vehicles will take 50 minutes to travel from one end to the other,” a GMCBL official said Wednesday, adding that services along the route will begin from IFFCO Chowk metro station at 6.50 am and from Sector 82 Badha village at 7.50 am. The last service will be at 6.05 pm and 7.05 pm, respectively.
The 135B route, officials said, was a slightly modified version of the GMCBL’s previous route 135, which operated from Sector 90 to IFFCO Chowk metro station. On Wednesday, Pataudi MLA Satya Prakash Jrawta flagged off the service on the route from Sector 82 around 11 am.
Welcoming the decision of the GMCBL to resume bus services on the two routes, Commander (retd) Satyavir Singh, president of Mapsko Casa Bella Condominium Association, said it was a major development and would prove to be a “boon to connectivity and boost residential real estate in the surrounding sectors of New Gurgaon”.
Pradip Rahi, president of the Ramprastha Association, said that bus services on route 135B would help residents but stressed that the frequency of the buses and alignment of the routes needed to be improved. “Although GMCBL has targeted the main areas of the new sectors, it will not make much of an impact unless they cover at least some of the bigger societies. There is a local transportation issue that needs to be considered. There are no auto-rickshaws in these sectors and e-rickshaws are also not easily available. If anyone thinks of taking a bus from our society they have to travel almost 1.5 kilometres to the closest stop. If the buses run along at least some of the bigger societies, they will be more effective,” Rahi said.
GMCBL is currently operational on 27 routes that connect different parts of Gurgaon and as well as Delhi and Faridabad. The service has a fleet of 200 low-floor and CNG buses.
