Patna, Dec. 2: The much-awaited luxury Mercedes buses could get rolling within a fortnight. Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) is on a war footing to get the air-conditioned Mercedes buses inaugurated by chief minister Nitish Kumar by December 15.

The corporation has fixed 15 buses that would ply between Bihar and Jharkhand. The fares, however, are yet to be finalised.

“We have received nine luxury Mercedes coaches so far and six more buses are likely to arrive in the next few days. The route chart of the 15 buses has been finalised. While six buses would ply between Patna and Ranchi, four more would run between Patna and Jamshedpur. Two buses each would ply on Gaya-Jamshedpur and Gaya-Ranchi routes, while one bus would run on Bhagalpur-Jamshedpur route. All these 15 buses would make two trips — morning and evening — every day on their designated routes,” a BSRTC official said.

“The idea is to initially connect the major cities in the two states. The rest of the cities would be covered with the arrival of more buses under this inter- city/state luxury bus scheme,” the official pointed out.

These buses would be operated by the BSRTC as a part of the total 92 buses on 17 routes across Bihar and Jharkhand. While 10 of these routes would connect Patna and the other district headquarters in the state, another seven routes would take citizens from Patna, Gaya and Bhagalpur to four district headquarters in neighbouring Jharkhand. The swanky buses would run at an average speed of 60-80km per hour, enabling passengers cover a stretch of over 400km from Patna to Jamshedpur between five and seven hours.

BSRTC, an undertaking of the state transport department, is putting all efforts to inaugurate the buses by December 15. “The permits of these Mercedes buses are being issued as soon as we are getting their delivery. The inauguration has been put on hold to ensure that all the 15 buses arrive and also to seek the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar for the inaugural programme,” an official said, adding that the chief minister is busy with the winter session of the Assembly and his Seva Yatra. “Even the bus fares would be finalised. But the buses will be inaugurated by December 15,” he added.

The 53-seater luxury coaches are powered by Euro-III engine and they are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including Wi-fi, live TV, Dolby Digital audio-video DVD player, two LCD screens with every seat among other facilities.

The chasis and engine of these buses come from Pune and body of these buses is built at Jalandhar, before these finally arrive at Patna.