There is a need to develop an affordable bus based transport system in Bhubaneswar as there is no immediate feasibility for the metro rail in Bhubaneswar, Orissa Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said.

“we need not have car-centric development and must have efficient, reliable and cost-effective bus-based public transport system as metro rail is not feasible in a city like Bhubaneswar even in coming two three decades.” Padhi said at a workshop on ‘Smart Mobility Solutions’.

The workshop was jointly organized by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) and Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL).

The idea behind this workshop was to work on how they can revamp the mobility plan of the city of Bhubaneswar.

As per Vice-Chairman BDA, Dr. Krishan Kumar, Metro system for Bhubaneswar might cost Rs 6,000 crore for a route of 100 km, but with a 10 percent of the cost they can have an efficient bus transport network.

“With a new fleet of around 500 buses, they have decided to change the city’s mobility scenario within two years’ time. We have already started the process to have an expert from mobility sector to do a DPR,’’ Kumar informed.

He pointed out that the buses could have options like standard buses, trolley buses, electric buses and BRTS or a collage of some from these models.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation along with other administrative departments have started working on Implementation of best plan for mass transportation across the city.