Sambalpur, Sept. 30: One-and-a-half years since the launch of city bus service, major localities here are still deprived of it.

Local residents were hopeful that the service would make movement inside the city easier. However, the buses ply on only a few routes, forcing them to depend on autorickshaws.

Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company executive officer Bipin Bhatia, which partnered with the state government to run and manage the buses, said: "We are ready to run the buses on all routes. But, the narrow roads have emerged as a hindrance. The buses cannot move to several areas because of these narrow roads."

"If the roads are widened, we would take steps to ensure the buses ply on other routes," he said. The service began on January 29 last year with six buses. At present, 29 buses run in Sambalpur. However, most of these ply on the inter-city routes, passing through two or three major routes inside the city.

"The localities, which fall on the inter-city routes, have city bus connectivity. Other localities, including the Old Town area, are deprived of the service. As a result, people are still dependent on autorickshaws," said city resident Biswa Ranjan Pattnaik.

"I thought the buses would run on the intra-city routes also. However, they only run between cities and not inside Sambalpur," said a regular commuter, Basant Panigrahi.

"People here got organised public transport after the service was launched. Connectivity to Burla, Hirakud, Jharsuguda and Bargarh became easier. However, if the buses run on routes inside the city, people here would get an alternative to autorickshaws," said another resident, Ramesh Agrawal.

Trilochan Majhi, chief executive officer of Western Odisha Urban Transport Services Limited, which is the apex body of the city bus service in Sambalpur, admitted that the absence of wide roads was a major problem. However, he denied that there was any proposal of running the buses on new routes inside the city.