News: Dedicated bus service for Gurgaon by March-end as govt invites tenders-28.11.2017
Dedicated bus service for Gurgaon by March-end as govt invites tenders
The city bus service in Gurgaon will run on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode and will be known as the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL). The state government has invited tenders to select an operator and the process would be completed by January next year, a government spokesperson said on Sunday.
“The government will invite competitive bids for selecting an operator to run the city bus service on a PPP mode,” the spokesperson said.
The pre-proposal meeting for the tender process is on December 5 and last date for submission of tender documents is January 3, the spokesperson said. The tenders will be submitted online.
The selected operator will be responsible for providing bus service in the Gurgaon metropolitan area. As per the request for proposal documents, the operator will be responsible for purchase and maintenance of the buses, the spokesperson said.
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) would purchase 500 CNG buses in phases. In the first phase, 200 buses will be purchased.
V Umashankar, additional chief executive officer of GMDA, who is also the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, said since the process of selecting an operator has started the city would have buses soon. “We are trying to roll out the bus service by end of March next year,” he said.
At present, the Haryana transport department operates a fleet of about 115 low-floor buses. Of these, 55 are air conditioned. The fleet, however, falls short in meeting demand as 10% of vehicles remain stationed for repair and maintenance.
As per the plan, GMCBL will run 500 buses of which 45% will be air-conditioned. The frequency of buses will 7.5 to 10 minutes. In a pre-proposal survey, the MCG had estimated potential ridership of three lakh passengers per day.
Earlier, tenders for two bus depots, in sectors 10 and 54, were floated in October, while land for a third depot in Sector 72 was earmarked.
Gurgaon has poor public transport because of which people have to depend on own vehicles or cabs leading to traffic congestion. The issue came to the limelight when the district administration expressed its inability to implement the odd-even vehicle rationing plan, one of the many measures suggested under the graded response action plan as suggested by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority to control pollution
Quick take
•Bus service named Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) to run on PPP mode
•GMDA to purchase 500 low-floor CNG buses; 45% will be air-conditioned
•Bus depots to come up at Sector 10, 54, and 72
•Buses to ply at intervals of 7.5 to 10 minutes
•Last date for submitting tender for operating bus service is January 3
