Online booking, wearing masks must to board Haryana transport buses plying from Friday

Online booking and wearing masks will be must for passengers boarding the Haryana Roadways buses which are to start plying on select routes in the state from Friday, said Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma.

No passenger will be allowed to board the bus if online booking has not been done. The bus services will be point-to-point on select routes and wearing masks is mandatory. Thermal screening of passengers will also be done, Sharma told PTI over phone on Thursday.

The Haryana government has already sanitised its bus terminals and the ordinary non-air-conditioned buses which will hit roads, he said.

To ensure that social distancing is strictly followed, only 30 passengers will be allowed to board the 52-seater buses. In the bus terminuses too, passengers will have to maintain social distancing in the waiting area, he said.

The buses will ply from depots in Ambala, Bhiwani, Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Narnaul, Panchkula, Rewari, Rohtak and Sirsa and ply on select point-to-point routes.

Digitally addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar had announced that public transport will resume operation in the state on an "experimental basis" from Friday, with a limited number of buses plying on select routes.

A government spokesman, meanwhile, said the buses, which will ply within Haryana, will not be started in areas severely affected by COVID-19.

He said bookings for these buses can only be done through the online portal www.hartrans.gov.in.

The buses will ply from the Haryana State Transport bus stands to the scheduled bus stands. No passenger will be allowed to board or disembark the bus on the way, he added.

He said in a statement that the buses passing through worst-hit COVID-19 affected districts will pass through a bypass or flyovers. Notably, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar are among the worst-affected districts in Haryana.

He said if the bus movement is not possible on any route due to any reason then passengers will be informed two hours before the scheduled time of departure. The fare paid by the passenger will be refunded, he added.