Regional Transport authorities on Thursday said they will begin the integration of all routes for minibus operators in Srinagar as well as the allocation of route numbers. Three routes have already been integrated to “streamline” the minibus service.
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Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari, the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) for Kashmir, was quoted as saying by news agency—KNO that after integrating three routes in Srinagar, they received positive feedback from commuters and minibus operators and now they plan to integrate the entire minibus service in the city with route numbers within the next ten days.
“With this process, the people no more will have to change multiple buses to reach their destinations,” Bukhari said.
He, however, said that for the time being, eight to nine routes won’t be covered under the plan as modalities for their integration are under discussion.
RTO Kashmir said Srinagar city has a fleet of around 1,200 minibuses operating on various routes in and around the district. “There will be around nine routes in Srinagar and their number allocation is likely to be from 1-9,” he informed, adding, “We expect the process to hit the roads by the next ten days.”
For the integration of all routes in Srinagar, a review meeting was conducted in which Additional Transport Commissioner Reyaz Ahmad and a detailed discussion was held with stakeholders from minibus associations of the city, Bukhari said.
Earlier this week, RTO authorities, on a trial basis, started the integrated minibus service on three routes which according to them covered most of Srinagar City.
