GMCBL to start trial run of special bus service for women

The Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) has decided to conduct trial runs of the women’s special bus service and assess the response before restarting the service in the city, officials said on Wednesday.

According to GMCBL, the department is planning to restart the women’s special bus service once again after colleges reopen completely.

“We have not started the women’s special bus service even after the end of the lockdown because we did not get sufficient number of passengers. These buses ran on lesser capacity even before Covid-19 pandemic, and we incurred losses. We have now decided to conduct a trial run of these buses once colleges and office complexes open up a little more so that we can cater to more passengers,” said Jai Parkash, assistant manager for route planning, GMCBL.

He said that if the trial runs are successful with enough number of passengers using the bus service, then the city bus authority will restart the service. However, the official could not give a date as to when the trial run would start.

The women’s special bus service, which started in November 2019, was halted during the lockdown imposed last year in March due to Covid-19 pandemic. The bus service, which had female conductors and drivers, was started with the aim of providing a safe transportation service to women, connecting busy hubs like Metro stations with newer and older parts of the city. The bus followed a route from Huda City Centre Metro station till Gurugram railway station, as several girls’ schools and women’s colleges are located along the route.

While most bus services have restarted since the end of the lockdown, the women’s special service is yet to resume.

The city bus services are available on 24 routes with 153 buses. On Monday, a route 902 was introduced to cater to public commuting within Faridabad, which follows the route from NIT Bus Stand to Bata Metro Station and back to NIT Bus Stand (Mudrika) Via Hardware Chowk, Bata Metro Station, Hardware Chowk, Dabua Colony, Hanuman mandir and KL Mehta College. The bus service starts at 7.15am from NIT Bus Stand and the last bus leaves at 7.35pm.