250 new buses to be added to city’s fleet

Varanasi: A total of 250 new buses will be added to expand services of Varanasi City Transport Services Limited. Besides, the Kashi Darshan service will be linked with IRCTC.

The 34th meeting of the Varanasi City Transport Services Limited Board was held on Tuesday, during which various important points regarding making the city's traffic system smooth, safe and modern were discussed in detail. The meeting placed special emphasis on expansion of public transport services, traffic management, parking arrangements, e-bus operations and making the smart traffic system more effective.

Divisional Commissioner S Rajalingam discussed the approval of the minutes of the 33rd Board meeting, including the adoption of QR codes for ticket booking. Approximately Rs 6 lakh has been received through UPI payments, as approximately 14,000 people are making payments per month via UPI. The operation of city buses running from Mirzamurad to Babatpur, Markande Mahadev and DDU has been approved.

He also issued directions to correspond with the Urban Transport Directorate for early receipt of funds for electric bus charging stations to be built at Sarnath and Pareth Kothi. The municipal commissioner has been authorized to make land available for 175 of the 250 new city buses allocated for Varanasi city, while ADCP Traffic, Anshuman Mishra, has been authorized to determine the routes for the upcoming 250 new city buses.. The vice chairman of Varanasi Development Authority gave assurance that smart bus shelters would be constructed within one month.

The divisional commissioner directed the concerned officials to ensure time-bound and quality implementation of all schemes for providing better transport facilities to the general public. Noting the increasing traffic pressure in the city, he also directed that prompt action be taken on proposals related to alternative routes and traffic improvement.