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Bengal

FIFA U-17 World Cup: 630 additional AC buses to ply in city

Kolkata: The state Transport department has given necessary permits allowing plying of app-based buses in the city during the FIFA Under-17 World Cup whose 10 matches will be held in Kolkata.
Moreover, additional 630 air-conditioned buses including 150 app-based buses will be plying in the city during the international event.
The initiative has been taken to ensure that football lovers do not face any inconvenience in reaching the Yuva Bharati Krirangan and to return home after the matches. The total arrangement has been finalised in a meeting held on Tuesday in which senior officers of the state Transport department including the additional chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay were present in the meeting.
Officials from School Education and Higher Education departments, police, private transport operators and officials from transport corporations were also present.
The World Cup is going to start on October 6. Kolkata will be hosting ten matches including the final that will be held on October 28. The additional buses will be available on all the days of
the matches.
This is the first time when app-based buses will be plying in the city.
There will be around 150 such buses which will be operating in and around the city on the day of the matches. The state Transport department has given necessary permits to private operators to ply the app-based
buses.
The buses will be plying from important spots including Tollygunge, Garia, Joka, Ballygunge, Baghbazar, Dunlop, Santragachi, Bally, Kolkata Airport, Barrackpore and Howrah. There will be around 26 to 30 seats in each of the buses and the seats has to be pre-booked using a mobile phone app. Extra passengers will not be taken.
In a unique move, the state Transport department will be running shuttle buses between Milan Mela and Ultadanga.
All buses will not be allowed to reach up to the stadium on the day of the matches. So the step has been taken to help people reach the nearest point from where they could get buses on all routes. A passenger has to give a fare of Rs 10 for availing the shuttle bus service. Around 100 buses will be engaged for the shuttle service.
West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) will ply 200 additional air-conditioned buses from different parts of the city and its adjoining areas and another 100 buses from different places in the adjacent districts including Dhamakali, Caning, etc.
Moreover, in a bid to provide free-of-cost transport facility to school and college students, the state government is going to engage 48 and 32 air-conditioned buses.
A senior official of the state transport department said: "The route has been made in such a way so that almost all places get covered."
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