Drivers wave before leaving on their maiden run at the inauguration of city bus services in Ranchi on Saturday. (Prashant Mitra)

Ranchi, June 26: After a wait of about seven months, residents of the state capital took their first ride in city buses today as ten of the 100 allotted for Ranchi under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) rolled out from Project Building.

In his new blue uniform, Nand Gopal Ojha, the driver of the first of the city buses bearing registration number JH01AE0222, drove the Swaraj Mazda 29-seater as hundreds of bystanders applauded.

The buses, run by Jharkhand State Tourism Development Corporation, were flagged off by urban development secretary Arun Kumar Singh and state transport commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni, both of whom hitched a ride from Project Building to Golchakar about 3 km away.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation officials were also present.

Singh said the remaining 90 buses, that had been bought in December last year for the state capital, would be run within a month.

He added that similar services in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad would be launched soon.

Jharkhand State Social Welfare Board chairperson Pratibha Pandey also bought a ticket on the first bus and travelled to the state Assembly from Project Building.

She was happy to note that the bus had four seats reserved for women and two for the disabled.

“Due to the lack of public transport in the city, women were the worst hit.

“I hope this new venture will ease the travel woes of the fairer sex,” she said while interacting with newsmen before the bus started around 11.30 am.

All the 10 buses would ply on the route number 5, beginning from Project Building to Jay Prakash Nagar near Booty More, covering about 20 km.

While the minimum fare is Rs 3, the maximum fare has been fixed at Rs 15.

Among the areas that buses on route 5 would cover are Sector 3 market, Shalimar Market, State Assembly, Delhi Public School, Harmu sub-station, Kishoreganj, Zakir Hussain Park, Aqua World, Karamtoli Chowk, Army Public School and Bariatu Housing Colony.

The city has been divided into five routes and the plan is to run 20 buses at 10-minute intervals on each.

The service will be available from 6 am to 10 pm.

People turned up in large numbers to welcome the bus service, launched after Governor M.O.H. Farook took the initiative and asked his advisors to ensure it wasn’t delayed further.

“I took an auto-rickshaw from my house to Project Building to be one of the first passengers of the new city bus,” said Satendra Kumar, a Steel Authority of India (SAIL) employee.

Next to him was Gautam Kumar, a student of DAV School, Hehal, who kept waiving his ticket in support of the venture.

The city bus project has had its share its problems. No private operator was willing to take up the project as they weren’t happy with some of the terms and conditions of the proposed MoU.

The Jharkhand High Court also intervened and set a deadline of June 23 for the state to launch the bus servcie. Late by three days in launching the much-needed service, the state administration, however, managed a seven-day reprieve from the high court after explaining its constraints.