There’s more. You don’t have to climb down in a hurry with the incidents of private buses running over alighting passengers fresh in your mind. The state-ofthe- art design of the bus will not allow it to move an inch if anyone is standing near the door.

If you think this is a scene from a fictitious film, you are mistaken.

These are the highlights of the low-floor bus allotted to Kochi under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The bus offers utmost comfort to passengers even when running along potholed roads in the city. Don’t raise your eyebrows, doubting Thomases! The floor of the bus can be lowered and raised according to your needs.

If the driver sees a pit on the road he can raise the floor by pushing a switch. He need not change the gear or apply the clutch, the job will be done automatically.

The luxury and safety of passengers are equally balanced.

The driver is able to see passengers getting into and alighting from the bus on a TV monitor. In foreign countries where lowfloor buses are used there isn’t any conductor as tickets can be taken from vending machines at bus stops. The Volvo bus has been designed to meet the requirements of physically challenged people. It has a mechanism that allows to lower its body and adjust its height to accommodate wheelchairs directly into the bus from the footpath, said Siby Mathai, managing director, Vista Driveline Motors Pvt Ltd, the dealers of Volvo in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Are you going to fasten your seat belt? Please wait a while.

For your kind attention, the maiden journey of low-floor buses proposed to be introduced in Kochi has been postponed for the time being due to regulations as part of the election code of conduct. But don’t be disappointed.

You will be able to take a trip on a low-floor bus in Kochi soon, provided the authorities don’t further delay the project. Wishing you a nice journey in advance!