By IANS,
Chandigarh : Travel on the Chandigarh-Delhi-Gurgaon route just got better with Haryana resuming its air-conditioned Saarthi Volvo bus service Friday, almost three years after it was discontinued.
Of the newly-acquired fleet of four semi-sleeper buses, the first bus to Delhi was flagged off from the inter state bus terminus (ISBT) in Sector-17, Chandigarh, by Haryana Transport Minister Mange Ram Gupta.
“Saarthi Volvo, an air-conditioned (AC) bus service, was earlier introduced by taking the buses on lease from a private agency Oct 1, 2005. But after a few weeks, the agency terminated its contract because of losses,” Gupta told mediapersons.
“Since then we have been planning to start our own Volvo bus service with economical fares and unmatched facilities.”
The Volvo buses will ply on the Chandigarh-Delhi-Gurgaon route. Everyday, two trips will touch the Indira Gandhi International Airport and one trip will touch the domestic airport in Delhi.
“We have bought four Volvo buses priced at over Rs.6.2 million each. There is a proposal to add six more Volvo buses in the coming days. The fare to Delhi is Rs.390 and to Gurgaon in Haryana is Rs.440,” stated Gupta.
Each Volvo bus will do three trips every day, amounting to twelve trips by four buses.
Apart from the Volvo buses, Haryana Roadways were also planning to add 50 more air-conditioned buses on all inter-state routes, said Gupta. He said Haryana Roadways were the best in terms of infrastructure as they have a system of retiring the buses after they complete seven years on the road.
The drivers of Haryana Roadways were sent especially to Bangalore for five days of special training.
“These buses are very comfortable if we compare them with the earlier Volvos. Passengers will be given free bottles of mineral water, newspapers, magazines and juice on the way,” Rajesh, driver of the first Volvo bus flagged off Friday, told IANS.
In the Eleventh Five Year Plan, Haryana Roadways plan to add 1,000 more buses, thereby raising their fleet to 4,500, Gupta said.