City bus service to restart in Noida by year-end

The Noida authority is carrying out a survey to identify more routes for the bus service, officials said, adding that the service is likely to resume by the end of this year.

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), along with the Noida authority, has decided to restart the city bus service with an aim to provide last mile connectivity to thousands of commuters in Noida and Greater Noida.

The NMRC, which operates the 29.7km Aqua Line connecting Noida to Greater Noida, had last year stopped the city bus service terminating the contract with a private agency after the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown was announced. (Sunil Ghosh /HT)

The authority is carrying out a survey to identify more routes for the bus service, officials said, adding that the service is likely to resume by the end of this year.

The NMRC, which operates the 29.7km Aqua Line connecting Noida to Greater Noida, had last year stopped the city bus service terminating the contract with a private agency after the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown was announced.

Earlier the city bus service was available on 11 routes covering key roads such as Master Plan 1, Master Plan 2, Master Plan 3, Noida expressway, Dadri road, Greater Noida West, Knowledge Park that is a hub to educational institutes and Delhi-Noida Link road, among others.

“We have decided to add more routes so that we can cover all crucial destinations. A survey to identify more key places is underway and likely to be completed by the end of this month. If all goes well, the city bus service will restart by December in the two cities,” said Praveen Mishra, additional chief executive officer of the Noida authority and executive director of the NMRC.

The authority has already taken feedback from the general public about the routes of the city bus service.

“We have taken suggestions from the general public about existing routes and additional roads that need to be covered under the new route plan. Our motive is that when a commuter steps down from a Metro station, he or she should get the bus service to reach his final destination in the two cities,” said Mishra.

The officials said that the Urban Mass Transit Company Limited, an urban transport consultancy firm under the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, has been roped in for the survey in Noida and Greater Noida. “We will finalise the routes soon after the survey, and then we will hire an agency that will provide the city bus service,” said Mishra.

In December 2016, the city bus service was started with 50 air-conditioned low floor CNG buses to address the transport woes in Noida and Greater Noida. Till March last year, the service was available from 5am to 10pm with fares ranging between ₹11 and ₹53.

Residents said that many important areas were not covered in the earlier routes. “Most of the buses used to run without passengers because the routes were faulty. We hope the new route plan will not have that issue again,” said PS Jain, member of Noida Citizen Forum, a residents’ group.