An AC bus of Dream Team Shahara. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: Dream Team Shahara is planning to introduce online and mobile booking of seats in Redline buses for better passenger service, despite partial suspension of the facility due to lack of security and infrastructure.

Out of its three routes for Redline buses, only the one between Bhubaneswar and Puri is lucrative. Officials, however, hope that other routes would become popular with cooperation of the authorities.

The operator says that online and mobile bookings would help people book their seats from anywhere.

“We are in touch with several firms who will develop these facilities for us. Besides, we are also going to procure a telephone number through which people can book their tickets by calling,” said DTS chairman Nishikant Mishra.

This decision was taken after several passengers boarded in these buses complained about non-availability of seats, which forced them to either travel standing or sitting in an awkward place.

The online booking system will prevent such situation, as the bus staff will not pick any passenger after the seats are fully booked.

“The e-tickets will be booked through online payment system. However, the mobile tickets booking will be valid for two hours and after that the tickets will be allotted to others,” said chief executive officer of DTS Sudhanshu Jena.

The operator also said that if the local administration in Puri and Cuttack support, these buses can ply regularly and on time.

For online ticket booking, the service needs to be regularised.

“With non-cooperation from police and civic administrations at these two spots we are forced to suspend the costly Redline bus services despite knowing that people want such facilities. We hope the government will take appropriate steps for the betterment of public,” said an official.

The Redline buses had started plying on three routes – between airport and Nandankanan zoological park on May 2, between Bhubaneswar and Puri on June 14 and between Cuttack and Puri on August 20.

But a few days ago the operator has suspended the last route due to harassment by private bus operators and non-cooperation from local administrations.

Passengers, who used to travel in these buses, slammed the decision of the operator and the government for suspending service between Cuttack and Puri.

The DTS officials said that they hope the services will be put into place before the Nabakalebar next year. Even the officials of Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) said that they are trying to sort out the problems.

“We will write to the city police and Cuttack district administration as well as Puri administration for stringent actions. This is a government service and this will definitely be there,” Sanjib Kumar Mishra, chief of BPTSL.