Site for the main depot for city buses at Pokhariput and (below) the temporary bus terminal at Master Canteen Square near railway station in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 12: Dream Team Sahara (DTS) will soon put up signboards at bus stops across the city announcing timings, numbers and routes of various city buses.

Sources said DTS, the operator of the city bus service, would put up around 400 such signboards. Of these, 200 will be put up immediately.

“Each signboard will cost the operator Rs 40,000. With a view to recover the cost, there will also be a small space for putting up advertisements,” said joint secretary of housing and urban development department and general manager (administration) of Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL), Sanjib Kumar Mishra.

The route No. 207, running between Nandankanan and Biju Patnaik Airport, will also include Infocity as a major stoppage. “Information technology (IT) professionals have demanded that Infocity area — which has become popular among tourists and residents — should be included on the route of the city bus service. Also, there will be more buses on route No. 307, running between KIIT University and Uttara Square, as per the demand of passengers,” Mishra added.

Regarding facilities for the city bus service, a meeting was held day before yesterday under the chairmanship of the mayor of Bhubaneswar, who is also the chairman of the BPTSL.

The operators expressed their views regarding the lacunae in having adequate infrastructure even after running the city bus service for the last nine months.

The 4.5-acre main bus terminal, which is supposed to park nearly 200 buses, is under construction with an investment plan of Rs 1 crore by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). Though there is a plan to invest more for the main terminal. Presently there will be only one bus terminal with water, electricity, rest room and toilet. “However, other facilities, such as ramps for washing the buses, would be added subsequently. The BDA authorities will complete the bus terminal by June 30 so that the buses can start using the space soon,” said a senior officer of the BPTSL.

Apart from the main terminal, there will be five origin-destination terminals needed for the operation of the city bus service in Bhubaneswar. While the general administration department will provide land for four locations, Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation will provide one. Similarly, Cuttack Development Authority will provide two locations in the Millennium City.

Chairman of Dream Team Sahara, Nishikanta Mishra, said the operator has requested for appointment of a nodal officer to look into the law and order situation as there were at least six major attacks on city buses from anti-socials.

“As not a single arrest has been made in these cases so far, we wanted this help. We were assured that an assistant commissioner of police (traffic) would be the nodal officer for handling law and order,” said Mishra, hoping “now the staff of 70 buses running in eight routes would be more confident with this arrangement.”

Regarding the city bus service in Puri, he said the city would have a main terminal at Narendra Pokhari Kona after Atharanala. There are, however, some legal problems, which the chairperson of Puri Municipality assured to sort out soon. Similarly, another origin-destination terminal would operate from Jatrika. Both the places would have water, electricity and toilet facilities. The state government is planning to start bus services to Puri by June 22 with five buses. However, the date is yet to be finalised.

On the other hand, the city bus terminal at Master Canteen would soon have drinking water and toilet facilities.