Special bus services to help visitors reach Book Fair

This year it is going to be held at Karunamoyee Central Park from January 31 to February 11.

It may be recalled that the state Transport department made elaborate arrangements and became immensely successful during earlier events including Fifa Under-17 Football World Cup.

The state Transport department has decided to ply three types of buses up to the venue of the book fair. There will be shuttle buses, special buses and special sub-urban buses.

The Transport department will operate 131 additional buses on weekdays and 177 buses on weekends for the book fair.

The shuttle buses will mainly carry passengers up to a certain distance from where they can easily avail buses for their destinations. On weekdays, 22 shuttle buses will be plying while on Saturdays and Sundays, a total of 31 buses will operate from the book fair. The shuttle bus service will minimise the chance of traffic congestion near the venue.

There will be 63 book fair special buses which will be operating from the locations including Howrah Station, Sealdah Station, Thakurpukur, Parnashree, Jadavpur and Dunlop. The number of the buses will be increased to 86 on weekends.

Arrangements have also been made to operate direct buses from sub-urban areas to the book fair. Such 46 buses will be operating on weekdays and 60 on weekends and the places from where the buses will ply include Barasat, Habra, Uttarpara, Bally Halt, Barrackpore, Joka and Santragachi.

It may be mentioned that it was on December 8 when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a high level meeting at Nabanna to ensure proper arrangement for the book fair and also directed to take necessary measures as it is going to be held at a new venue this time.