KDMC to replace crumbling bus stops with smart ones

Waiting for buses will get convenient for commuters in the coming days, as the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) plans to install 150 new bus stops under

Waiting for buses will get convenient for commuters in the coming days, as the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) plans to install 150 new bus stops under the smart city scheme.

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The new stops will have a Public Information System (PIS) under which there will be screens displaying the details of buses arriving. The buses will have a GPS (global positioning system), so that passengers waiting at the stop can be alerted on where the bus has reached and how much time will it take to arrive at the stop.

“Under the smart-city scheme, the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation has taken up the work of transit management vehicle tracking and passenger information system. The civic body has included the transport services into it. The new bus stops will be made of stainless steel,”said Maruti Khodke, general manager, KDMT.

In many parts of Kalyan-Dombivli, bus stops are either defunct, have leakages, lack proper seating arrangements or roofs. Passengers face the ordeal of waiting at these stops with no intimation of bus-arrival timings.

“Most of the bus stops don’t have seating arrangements. If one has to wait with their child or senior citizen it becomes very difficult. The infrastructure at the bus stops are rusted too,”said Ankita Singh, a commuter.

There are around 159 old bus stops in Kalyan-Dombivli area. Out of these, 25 were recently removed during road-widening work and later 35 new stops with steel rods were put up by the KDMT. The civic transport body plans to replace the dilapidated bus stops with 150 smart ones.

The installation work of the new bus stops will be done by a private consultant. KDMT has already initiated a tender process to appoint one.

The estimated cost of the entire project is ₹ 5 crore, said KDMT officials.

The consultant after installing the bus stops can allow advertisements on it and will also have to look after the maintenance of the stops for a period of 5 years.

Currently, passengers taking a KDMT bus from Kalyan have poor facilities at the bus stops.

“The situation worsens during monsoon as water leaks from the cracked roof into the bus stops. The new stops should be planned in such a way that they are leak- proof and don’t get water logged,” said Kiran Mehta, 28, who regularly travels in a KDMT bus from Kalyan to Shilphata for work.

Earlier in 2015, KDMT had given orders to a private company to build 124 bus stops across Kalyan-Dombivli on a contract basis.

All 124 were supposed to be built within a year, but only 35 have been built so far. Since the work was not completed by the contractor, the civic body has now included the work under smart city project.

“The contractors did not complete the work and also did a shoddy job. The department also suffered losses due to this. Now the work will be undertaken under the smart city project,” said a KDMC official, on condition of anonymity.

Although the civic transport body plans to update the bus stops, one of the major concerns among passengers is poor bus service by the KDMT.

“If the stops are good but there frequency of buses still remains poor, then it serves no purpose. There is a need to emphasise on sending more buses on the road,” said Shaheen Khan, 45, a commuter.

Presently, out of the 218 civic buses, only 60-70 ply on the road daily as the rest are ill-maintained.