JNAC officials inspect the buses at Sidhgora depot on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 31: The steel city’s bus service will get off to a much-awaited start tomorrow, with nine new buses reaching the bus depot at Sidhgora this morning.

Fifteen buses are scheduled to arrive tonight, taking the tally to 24 in the first phase. In all, 50 buses have been allotted to Jamshedpur under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Officials of Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation, which will operate the fleet, said 26 others would arrive shortly.

Tomorrow, urban development department additional secretary Ravindra Kumar Agarwal would flag off the bus service from Bistupur’s Gopal Maidan, in the presence of senior officials and other dignitaries. “From tomorrow, 24 buses would run on different routes. The rest would be added to the fleet in the next couple of days,” corporation’s manager (administration) Alok Prasad said.

Officials of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), the nodal agency to monitor the bus service, today visited the Sidhgora bus depot and inspected the 30-seater buses. “We also inspected eight routes where the bus service would ply tomorrow. Depending on the distance, fares have been pegged between Rs 3 and Rs 15,” said J.P. Yadav, the committee’s special officer.

According to Yadav, Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco) had also evinced interest in running the bus service but they had sought for some more time. “But the corporation has already roped in service providers to offer necessary logistics for running the bus service effectively,” said Yadav.

The bus service will provide an affordable commuting solution to denizens of the city and outskirts. An official of JNAC said existing private buses would continue to ply on city roads, as would vans and auto-rickshaws.