City bus service in Ludhiana likely to resume next week

The officials said buses would be run with 50% occupancy and the contractor would be directed to sanitise the buses on a daily basis

In a major relief to residents, the municipal corporation (MC) has received permission to restart the city bus service and it is expected to resume from the next week.

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The MC had earlier applied for permission with the deputy commissioner’s office and also sought guidelines from the administration before resuming the service.

The officials said buses would be run with 50% occupancy and the contractor would be directed to sanitise the buses on a daily basis.

An MC official, requesting anonymity, said the contractor is, however, reluctant to run the buses citing losses. The contractor has also asked the MC to revise the fare as the buses would be run at 50% occupancy and the transport is also expected to receive low response.

MC additional commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal said, “The MC has received permission to resume the city bus service and it is expected to run the service from the next week. The buses would be run at 50% occupancy and the sanitisation process would be taken up on a daily basis.”

The service was put to halt after the imposition of curfew in the state on March 23. After the government had allowed buses to operate in the state, the MC had also sought permission to run the city bus service.

Before curfew, the service was being run on four routes in the city and suspension of this facility affected over 3,500 daily passengers. As many as 65 buses were plying on four routes, including Sahnewal to Clock Tower, Kohara to the bus stand, Dugri to the Metro supermarket and the railway station to Meharban.