Srinagar, Mar 10: Regional transport authorities in Kashmir on Friday said they are going to start an integrated bus service likely from Monday on three new routes which will be covering the city’s major areas.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Kashmir, Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the step is aimed to provide respite to commuters traveling to Srinagar and to streamline the traffic with a new formula.
“We are integrating the routes in Srinagar, and in the first phase, we will cover the three long routes which will be covering most of the city areas,” RTO Kashmir said, adding, “These are not the new routes but an integrated version of the already existing routes.”
The new integrated routes, Bukhari said, are from Parimpora to Harwan, Budgam to Hazratbal, and Panthachowk to Soura.
Explaining the route map, he said the bus service from Panthachowk to Soura will travel through Shivpora, TRC, Batamaloo, Lalchowk, Ali Jan Road and then Soura, and will return via the same route to its starting point.
For Budgam to Hazratbal, he said, the bus will cover Humhama, Peerbagh, Rambagh, LD, TRC, Rainawari, and finally to Hazratbal. From Parimpora to Harwan, the bus will cover routes leading to Lal Chowk, TRC, and finally to Harwan, he added.
The RTO Kashmir said that in the first phase, they have started integration on three routes and that they are likely to integrate more routes to ease down the traveling for commuters. “This will be a trial phase and we will be starting with 40 to 45 buses which will be of 25 to 32 seat capacity and their scheduling will be done after every fifteen minutes,” he added—(KNO)
