Post launch of e-buses by Karnal depot, 19K take free rides in a week

Tribune News Service

Parveen Arora

Karnal, March 15

After seven days of providing free rides to passengers on e-buses, the Haryana Roadways Karnal depot started collecting fares from today.

Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while inaugurating the e-bus service for Karnal from Panchkula through video-conferencing on March 8, had announced free travel for seven days, following which the Karnal depot started a free trial run and the e-bus service garnered good response from passengers.

In the past one week, as many as 19,069 passengers have availed the benefits of free rides. In the initial days, however, the response was not so good as 544 passengers used these buses on the first day on March 8, followed by 1,920 passengers on March 9, 2,374 passengers on March 10, 3,198 on March 11, 3,569 passengers on March 12, 3,685 passengers on March 13, 3,779 on March 14, as per data of the Karnal depot.

“From today, we have started collecting fares from passengers using the e-bus service, which marked a new chapter in the evolution of the public transport system,” said Kuldeep Singh, General Manager, Haryana Roadways Karnal Depot.

Presenty, five buses are being operated between Old Bus Stand in Karnal city and Kunjpura village, which has become an integral part of Karnal’s urban transportation infrastructure in just one week. This facility has been lauded for efficiency, cleanliness and contribution towards reducing carbon emissions, the General Manager added.

“Frequent arrival of buses at the designated places will help in reducing traffic as people may start using this public transport system,” he added. The fare of these 45-seater electric buses is Rs 10 for the first 5 km and then Rs 5 for every 3 km. The route of the city bus service will be increased to accommodate the demands and needs the city residents.

“In the coming days, more such buses will be added to the fleet which will ply on other routes to meet the demand of people,” the GM said, adding that charging stations had been installed at the Old Bus Stand and soon the electric buses will have a dedicated e-bus terminal, for which sites are being finalised.

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