The police vehicle parked in front of Darbhanga railway station. Picture by Mohan Mahato

Darbhanga, May 18: Train passengers arriving at Patna Junction late at night are at the mercy of autorickshaw drivers. Their counterparts at Darbhanga railway junction, however, do not need to worry about transport if they disembark from a train at an ungodly nocturnal hour. Authorities have arranged for a night bus service between 10pm and 4am.

What’s more, the bus is a police vehicle, with a constable on duty as the driver. It makes two trips every night between Darbhanga railway junction and Laheria Sarai Chowk, and covers all important destinations like Income Tax Chowk, Bhandar Chowk, Bela More, Baag More, Kaiderabad bus stand, Hasan Chowk, Mirzapur, Donar Chowk, Alalpatti and Medical Chowk.

Darbhanga senior superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhav flagged off the service on February 20 this year.

Passengers — many of whom are outsiders to the city — are very happy with the free service that has allayed their security problems and protected them from rowdy autorickshaw drivers.

Pramila Devi, one such passenger, said: “Trains from Delhi and other cities reach Darbhanga late at night. Earlier, we would wait at the station till morning because of the security concerns. But now, thanks to the city night bus service, launched by the police, we can go home without fearing criminals.”

Delhi resident Neelu Kumar, who arrived here by a night train, said he had heard his relatives gush about the new service. “Now, I know why they were all praise for the service,” Neelu said.

Explaining the motivation behind starting this service, Vaibhav told The Telegraph that the police department wanted to reduce the number of night crimes.

“The bus performs two services at once — patrol the areas through which it passes takes passengers safely to their home,” Vaibhav said.

He added that four constables would be deployed for the service after the ongoing panchayat elections.

Police officers also claimed that the incidents of crime had gone down in areas through which the bus passes.

“According to the reports, crimes like loot, snatching and robbery have gone down after the bus service started,” said Mithilesh Kumar Jha, the station house officer of Laheria Sarai police station.