The Odisha State Road Transport Corporation is all set to resume its bus service on 43 selected routes in the State with effect from July 6, tomorrow, the State-run carrier informed through its Twitter page on Monday.
As per the decision, the bus service will only be available for passengers in the selected routes in some of the 20 Group A districts categorised by the State government based on their Covid Test Positivity Rate below 5%.
The OSRTC buses will run to and from 16 depots in the selected district routes as highlighted by the corporation.
Strict directives have been issued to the bus operators to ensure that the vehicles are filled to the seating capacity. Under no circumstances, passengers be allowed to travel standing or beyond the seat limits in the bus
Wearing of masks, sanitizers and maintaining of social distancing have been made mandatory for passengers while travelling.
The significant move by the OSRTC to restart the bus service comes just five days after the State government announced major lockdown relaxations in category A districts.
It may be noted that despite permission of relaxations and gradual restoration of economic activities, bus service is yet to set its wheels in motion. Private bus service which is the largest carrier in the State continues to remain off the limits in majority of the category A districts due to low footfall of passengers amid the Covid pandemic
Last year during the first wave of the pandemic too, a similar situation had also unfolded when a majority of private bus carriers expressed reluctance to run their operations first hand soon after the relaxations in lockdowns and shutdowns due to poor passenger footfall. To normalise the situation, the OSRTC had to resume the bus service first and gradually the public road transport eased.
Here are the permitted bus routes where passengers can get OSRTC buses from tomorrow:-