CM Naveen takes a ride in the newly inaugurated ‘Mo Bus’

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the ‘Mo Bus’ services under the ‘City Bus Modernisation’ programme in the capital city today ahead of the Men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled to begin later this month.

Patnaik officially launched the new bus service near the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) and dedicated it to the residents of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri.

Much to the surprise the chief minister later took a ride in the bus along with the passengers from the BPIA square and got down at the State secretariat.

“I’m very glad to have launched the ‘Mo Bus’ service which will be able to handle traffic in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. I’m very happy that half of the crew will be women and the bus is equipped with many advanced technologies,” said the Chief Minister.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Krishan Kumar said in ‘In Phase-I, 100 new buses will start running on 9 routes under the ‘Mo Bus’ service. Commuters can get regular bus services in every 10 and 15 minutes in peak and non-peak hours respectively,”

Kumar further informed, the newly-launched buses feature various technology driven systems like free Wi-Fi, CCTV surveillance, GPS, public information display system and on board announcement facility. The passengers can also get to know the locations of the bus and minimise their waiting time through the ‘Mo Bus' mobile app on smartphones.

Mo Bus service was launched as a part of state government-owned Capital Region Urban Transport’s (CRUT) ‘City Bus Modernisation’ programme.

The buses will operate daily for 15 hours from 7 AM to 10 PM on 9 routes according to the network plan finalised earlier.

While the Phase-II of the services is scheduled to be launched from November 15, the Phase-III will be rolled out on December 10, sources said.