Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the technology-driven and citizen-friendly ‘Mo bus’ service in the capital city today. The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) authorities have decided that the buses will cover nine routes in the first phase.

The newly-launched buses feature free Wi-Fi, CCTV surveillance, public information display system and on board announcements.

The bus service will come up with ‘Mo Bus’ mobile app through which citizens can book their tickets and also get to know the locations of the vehicle and minimise their waiting time at their nearby bus queue shelters (BQS) or bus stops.

The mobile app for the city bus service will be available both in Android and iOS operating systems and a desktop variant to track the locations of nearby BQS, checking arrival times of buses. The BQS will also have advanced features like digital screens to display the bus route numbers and the arrival times so that the waiting passengers would benefit.

The new city buses, besides having technology-driven features, are intelligently designed with urban features as they will be featured with spacious cabin space.

The bus operation along with the mobile app will be integrated with the command and control centre of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, commonly known as Bhubaneswar Operations Centre (BOC). Through the vehicle tracking system facility, the experts sitting at the BOC can also monitor the bus services and also coordinate with the mobile App service.