‘Gurugaman’ bus service delayed, to be launched only on August 28

The reasons for the delay include the issue of a notification by the state government with regard to the applicable motor vehicle Tax, which the GMCBL will have to pay for operating the buses.

The launch of the ‘Gurugaman’ city bus service, which was slated for August 15, has been deferred to August 28. The delay has been necessitated due to three primary reasons, said Chander Shekhar Khare, CEO, Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL), on Tuesday.

Inspection of the buses is likely to be completed within a week. (Sanjeev Verma/For representational purposes only)

The reasons for delay include the issue of a notification by the state government with regard to the applicable Motor Vehicle Tax, which the GMCBL will have to pay for operating the buses. The enterprise cannot legally operate without paying this tax, for which the state government has to first issue a notification, said Khare in an official statement.

Secondly, inspection for compliance and fitness of the 25 buses, which will initially ply, is still underway. The inspections are likely to be completed within a week.

Lastly, Khare stated that there have been some problems in procuring digital ticketing devices, but that this process would also be completed in about 10 days.

In addition, it was also revealed that GMCBL’s board of directors has also signed off on the fares for commuters — Rs10 will be charged for travel up to five stops, Rs20 for travel between five and 20 stops, and Rs30 for travel exceeding a distance of 20 stops. The board has also pushed for digital modes of payments, by offering a discount of Rs2 for commuters who pay via digital transactions.

The GMCBL will be working in tandem with the National Payments Corporation of India to execute these services and has tied up with both private and state banking institutes for the same.

The Gurugaman city bus service will ply along a circular route, beginning and ending at Huda City Centre, with stops at Subhash Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Sector 10 chowk, sector 4/7/9 chowk, Sheetla Mata Road, Atul Kataria Chowk and IFFCO Chowk. On August 3, the prototype of the buses had been unveiled before chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Gurugram.