Soon, commuters in Gurgaon can book city bus through Uber

The Board of Directors of Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Services Private Limited (GMCBL), which runs the bus service, gave the go ahead to start a special bus service where commuters can book their rides through cab aggregator Uber app, after a meeting on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Sudhir Rajpal, CEO Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and chairperson, GMCBL.

Officials said the special bus service will initially be run on a pilot basis for nine months with two buses plying on two routes – Badshahpur bus Stand to Huda City Centre Metro Station and BPTP Astaire Garden sector 70 to DLF Cyber Park Shankar Chowk. Officials claimed that Uber will enable booking of seat in the bus through its app, making it a first-of-its-kind service in the country.

The timings for buses on these routes will be 7 am till 12 noon and from 3 pm till 8 pm. Each bus will do three round trips each in the morning and evening. The frequency of the departures will be an hour, considering a 2-hour turn-around time for each bus.

CEO GMDA Sudhir Rajpal said, “This collaboration with Uber for reserving seats in Gurugaman buses will be a unique milestone for the public transport service not just in the city, but in the entire country. To enable reserving an assured seat via the Uber app will offer much ease to the commuters availing the bus service. Additionally, fewer stops will enable residents to reach their destination faster. It is an initiative to encourage Gurgaon residents to choose public transport which will not just ease the overall traffic load on the road, but is also a step forward for a cleaner environment.”

At present, GMCBL is operating 150 buses in the city and an additional fleet of 100 buses is in procurement.

Arun Sharma, who is looking after operations of bus service at GMCBL, said, “The exact date of the when the service will start and the fare will be decided soon.”