One of the air-conditioned buses that will ply on the roads of Patna from July 7. Telegraph picture

Patna, June 30: Those of you who dread travelling by public transport but have to abandon your private cars, thanks to the rising fuel prices, here is some good news: the city will soon have eight new air-conditioned buses.

Eden Transport Private Limited — that operates the ring route city bus service — will launch these buses. They will be on the road by July 7.

“The eight AC buses are expected to ply on the ring route by next weekend. We have got the permits for some of them, the others are on their way,” said Kunal Sharma, the chief operations officer of Eden Transport.

These buses would ply mostly on the longer routes — Gandhi Maidan to Khagaul, Gandhi Maidan to Danapur and Gandhi Maidan to Bailey Road. One can avail of the service as early as 5.30am, and they would be available every half-an-hour. While on route 1 each bus would make five trips, on routes 2 and 3 the number of trips would be six. The buses would be coloured maroon, and have added features like surveillance cameras, global-positioning systems, fire extinguishers and first-aid kits.

Residents are, naturally, happy with the development.

“The price of petrol is hiked after every few months. So I had recently sold my petrol-operated car and bought a diesel-operated four-wheeler. However, all my calculations have gone for a toss because of the recent hike in the diesel prices. The only logical solution for me is to shift to public transport. But I have always feared the crowds in buses,” said Amit Kumar, the manager of a city-based private firm and a resident of Ashiana Nagar.

Amit will now be able to take a bus on any of the three routes to reach his office on Fraser Road.

The tickets prices on these buses — Rs 10, Rs 15 and Rs 20 for different distances — are a little higher than that in ordinary buses. But no one is complaining about it.

“I spend thousands of rupees every month to buy fuel for my car in which I go to office. The soaring fuel prices are burning holes in my pocket. Now, if I am being offered the same comfort for few hundred rupees, I do not see any reason to not to travel in the AC buses,” said Nikhat Quasim, a resident of Boring Road.

The Tata Marcopolo (LP912) buses have 36 seats, of which six would be reserved for women and two for senior or physically challenged passengers.

“The ring route buses have changed the scene of public transport in Patna. I never imagined that we would travel in AC buses in Patna. We used to be jealous of the AC buses in cities but now we will have them in our own town,” said Ashutosh Pandey, a resident of Sri Krishna Nagar.

Eden Transport officials have, meanwhile, proposed rollback of the special buses for ladies.

“We had sent a proposal to Bihar State Road Transport Corporation as the average return on these buses was very low. In place of these buses, we would reserve 10 seats instead of six on the regular buses,” said Sharma.