Chandigarh transport dept to start 20 luxury buses to Delhi, Punjab, Uttarakhand

The Chandigarh transport department has decided to start 20 luxury buses to the Delhi airport besides some cities in Punjab and Uttarakhand by June this year.

Director, UT transport, Amit Talwar, told HT, “Even as the project was approved in November last year and we have sent proposal to the Centre, we are again sending them the revised proposal due to change in emission norms. We are hopeful of starting the service by June this year. The buses will ply to Delhi airport, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Haridwar and Dehradun.”

“Each bus will be equipped with 49 semi-sleeper seats, adequate luggage room, air-conditioning and heating, LED-based front destination board, mobile and laptop chargers in all rows and LCD television for entertainment. Mineral water, English and Hindi newspapers will be provided to passengers free of cost,” the officer added.

Besides, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) is also starting the service of 40 buses, which will ply to all prominent destinations in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Talwar said, “For CTU buses, we have already bought chassis for nearly 20 buses and we have floated tenders for its fabrication.”

At present, CTU has a fleet of 519 buses which are operating from its four depots. Out of the total buses, 87 are being used for long routes while the remaining buses are used for city bus service which serves the tricity area and suburban areas like Zirakpur and Kharar.

Due to shortage of buses, around 42% permits of various inter-state routes are lying unused. CTU has a total of 150 permits to ply on different routes in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, of which only 87 are being used.