Out of around 100 bus stops, the municipality will revamp around 44 of
them that are thonged by hundreds of commuters everyday but lack basic
amenities for the public.

“We decided to restore the bus stops
in the city after we realized that the passengers were facing a lot of
inconvenience due to poor maintenance. In the first phase, GMC
will give a facelift to 44 bus stops. In fact, we recently held a
pre-bid meeting with the firms that are keen to take up the task of
constructing new bus stops. The bidding process will be over soon and
the selected firms will be allotted the works by May,” said Mukul Gogoi,
additional commissioner of GMC.

The 44 bus stops will be
developed under build-operate-transfer model. Gogoi said all major roads
of the city will be covered under the project. Under the model, the
selected firms will rebuild the bus stops giving them an all-new look
and the firms will transfer these revamped bus stops to the GMC
authorities after maintaining them for five years. “The passengers
waiting for buses and cabs will feel secure under the newly-built sheds
at the bus stops. They will be adequate space and sitting arrangements,”
Gogoi added. The GMC authorities have made it mandatory for the firms
to keep 15 per cent of the advertising space in bus stops to be reserved
for the government.

Commuters have been waiting for buses and
cabs under the open sky in Chandmari, Ambari, Shantipur, Lakhtokia,
Bhangagarh and Paltan Bazar for years now. Reviving the bus stops is the
need of the hour. The additional commissioner of GMC said municipality
also has plans to install solar panels above the sheds. But it will take
some time before the ambitious plan of generating solar energy at the newly-constructed bus stops materializes.