Noida Metro to introduce 50 metro feeder buses in 16 new routes

Noida India (Urban Transport News): In the line of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to provide last-mile connectivity to the metro commuters, Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) will introduce 50 low-floor, air-conditioned, disabled-friendly feeder buses across 16 new routes in Noida and Greater Noida from March 15. Presently, Noida Metro Rail Corporation is operating buses and the feeder buses will replace them in 12 routes. "The NMRC will be running a fleet of 50 feeder buses which will be plying on these new routes from March 15 (Friday).

It is being done to cater to all the operational metro stations of the Aqua Line in Noida and Greater Noida," said P D Upadhyay, CPRO of Noida Metro Rail Corporation. According to the statement issued by the NMRC, Out of the 16 new routes, seven will be covering Noida area, three each for Greater Noida, Greater Noida West and another three between Noida and Greater Noida. The seven routes in Noida include Sec-74 (Cape Town) to Sec-51 metro station, Sec-51 metro station to Sec-137 metro station, Sec-51 metro station to Sec-12/22 (Ring Route), Sec-51 metro station to Sec-32 (RTO Office), Sec-55/56 (Indian Oil Colony) to Sec-51 metro station, Sec-142 metro station to Sec-51 metro station and Sec-142 metro station to Botanical Garden metro station.

The three routes covering Greater Noida include Sharda University Outer Ring Route, metro's Depot station (GNIDA) to Kasna, Dadri railway station to Gautam Buddha University via Kasna. Three routes which will be providing feeder bus service to Greater Noida West include Gaur City (Greater Noida West Sector 1) to Sec-51 metro station, Greater Noida West (ACE City) to Sec-51 metro station and Greater Noida West (Sampooranam) to Sec-51 metro station.

According to the statement, another three feeder buses will run on three routes between Noida and Greater Noida, including NSEZ Metro station to Kasna via AWHO, NSEZ metro station to Dadri via SurajPur and Botanical Garden metro station to Depot station via Greater Noida Authority. "These routes will be covering almost all the metro stations of the Aqua Line and their nearby areas. It will immensely benefit commuters who have to rely on other modes of local transport to reach the nearest metro stations," the NMRC statement said. "The areas covered by the new routes include prominent residential societies, hospitals, university campuses and important corporate and government offices that fall along the alignment of the NMRC metro corridor," said in the statement.

The NMRC official said that its air-conditioned buses are India's first "true low-floor" buses and are equipped with features like GPS, intelligent transport system, electronic ticketing machines, passenger information system, announcement and digital display, three CCTV cameras, panic button and accessibility for disabled people. The newly opened Aqua line of Noida Metro is covering a total distance of 29.7 km with a total of 21 elevated metro stations. The corridor was built in Rs 5,503 crores.