A fleet of Mo Buses in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Urban mobility services got a major boost with chief minister Naveen Patnaik flagging off a new fleet of 125 “Mo Buses” here on Tuesday.

The new fleet will be an addition to the existing 110 buses that ply in the city.

Instead of the customary flagging off ceremony, Naveen took a ride on one of the buses to launch the service. He boarded the bus at New Airport Square to reach the state secretariat on Tuesday this morning.

The trip cost Naveen Rs 8. He handed over the fare to the conductor, who will henceforth be known as bus guide. The chief minister also interacted with his co-passengers, who used the opportunity to click selfies with him.

The newly formed Capital Region Urban Transport (Crut) will run the Mo Bus service. The buses will connect Bhubaneswar to Puri, Konark and Cuttack.

A government official said that the new buses had features like CCTV cameras, and specified seats for women and senior citizens. In the next phase, another 75 buses will be added to the fleet. This will take the city bus count to 310.

“More than 300 city buses under Mo Bus programme will connect Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar. Today (Tuesday) we have introduced more than 100 buses under the programme. The buses will be equipped with Wi-Fi, CCTV, online ticketing system and a smartphone application,” Naveen said.

The chief minister while renaming the bus conductors as bus guides expressed his pleasure, as 50 per cent of them are women.

“It is a very good move of the government to get women conductors on board. It is a milestone step of the government and will prove immensely beneficial for all,” said Namita Ojha, a passenger in the bus.

When it comes to fare collection, the administration has decided to do it only through electronic ticket machines. “The automatic fare collection system will be available to daily passengers in the form of Odyssey City Card. The app will cover services such as bicycle sharing programme and e-rickshaws,” said Crut managing director Krishan Kumar.

The administration has introduced monthly, quarterly and annual payment options as against the existing monthly passes. People can use the card, a common payment system of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, for purchasing their tickets.

The mobile app “Mo Bus” will be available for both Android and iOS operating systems and also has a desktop variant.

It can track the locations of nearby bus queue shelters and check arrival times of buses. The mobile app can also locate the bus and give its exact time of arrival at the nearest bus shelter.

Besides, the authorities are also developing 200 new bus queue shelters, which will have route maps of the buses and an information board. It will also have bicycle parking lots.

In the second phase, the authorities are planning to develop 300 additional shelters and another 300 new buses will be added by the end of next year.