Bhubaneswar has been making consistent efforts towards a full-fledged implementation of a smart city concept and following on this, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) assigned with the task has now formed a mobility plan coordination committee. The committee’s role is to come up with a roadmap for bringing low carbon emission transport means in the city.
The committee held its first meeting this Tuesday, which saw experts in the field of sustainable urban mobility coming together to design the implementation plan of greener transport means. The transport solutions are supposed to be appointed by the city transport service for the residents of the city.
BSCL
As per sources, the plan is already under execution by the Sustainable Urban Transport Systems for the Smart Cities (SMART-SUT) team. The team constitutes of WRI, India, Wuppertal Institute backed by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC).
As per reports, Krishan Kumar, Managing director – BSCL mentioned that the plan was targeted at finding multiple modes of transport that boast of a low carbon emission. Some of such options have already been employed, including the Mo Bus, a fleet of 125 new buses offering Wi-Fi, in-bus CCTV surveillance and a dedicated app to the commuters, all at an affordable rate.
The buses are aimed to encourage the use of public transport, thus reducing the dependency of the city on motorised travel. As per Kumar, further integration of public bicycle renting system with the buses is the plan going forward.
BSCL
The progressive steps taken by the authorities surely mark a smart transition towards a more integrated and cleaner mode of transportation within the city. Several others are following on these lines, including the NCR region, for which the Delhi government officials recently visited China to understand the working of the electric buses.
Once the same are deployed here, which is planned to happen by June next year, these electric buses are expected to act as a great relief from the rising air pollution within the city. To know how the other states are taking measures in this regard, read more here.