Bhubaneswar, Nov. 15: City bus route information will now come in handy in the shape of signs at bus stops.

All the routes of the city bus will finally have sign at bus stops so that commuters can have information about each bus and its route.

Though the city bus service started on October 10, 2010, the sign boards were lying empty for more than a year.

Following a campaign by the The Telegraph on the issue, empty sign boards were erected along some select routes. But this time, the authorities wrote the information on the empty boards. At present, three routes — 405, 207 and 603 — will have sign, while two more routes 801 and 504 will be added in near future.

Municipal commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra said: “More sign will be developed along other bus routes. The public works department and traffic police will also be consulted on this. At present, the sign work is involving 168 bus stops along the three routes.”

Aiswaryalaxmi Parida, a student of Rama Devi Women’s College, who travels from her home at Pokhariput on route no. 405 every day, said: “Many commuters, who are new to the city, used to face difficulties without the sign. But now, they can themselves see the bus number from the sign. The bus operators and the civic administration should expedite the process and cover all other routes soon.”

Nishikanta Mishra, chairman of the city bus operator Dream Team Shahara, said: “After covering the 168 sign posts, we will cover 200 more for two more routes. After that, 400 more sign will be added to the remaining 12 routes.”

Dream Team Shahara is running the buses on behalf of the Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited, a company formed by the state government to manage the city bus service, funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. It operates 125 buses on 17 routes.

The municipal commissioner also added that apart from having more sign posts along the bus routes across the city, zebra crossings and dividers would also be painted near the bus stops.

JNNURM project officer Srimanta Mishra said: “We also hope to generate some revenue from the use of a portion of the sign for advertisement. The agency, which was given the responsibility to erect them across all bus routes across the city, will pay the revenue.”

However, the municipal commissioner added that the exact amount to be received from this venture was still to be calculated as all sign were not yet ready. “Once all sign boards are erected and the route details written on them, only then can we know the amount,’’ he said.

Interestingly, though the city buses were launched in the city about three years ago, proper infrastructure for the service is yet to be developed. While the much-hyped origin destination terminals are yet to come, the main terminal at Pokhariput is not yet ready.

In another development, the Dream Team Shahara is planning to add more bus routes to the existing 17 and extend the closing time from 8.30pm to 9.30pm once it gets 60 new buses to add to its fleet.