Wi- Fi facility at 14 NMMT bus depots from next month

GET CONNECTED Service will be free for commuters for half an hour, after which, it will be chargeable

NAVI MUMBAI: Commuters travelling in city transport buses can now get connected online while they wait for their bus at the depots.

The civic transport wing, Na vi Mumbai Municipal Transport ( NMMT) will soon start Wi-Fi facilities at all the 14 bus depot across Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction from Airoli to CBD Belapur.

The officials said this is a long- term plan that the transport body has been making to attract more commuters to use the NMMT buses. The service is likely to be launched in the first week of April.

The Wi- Fi service will be made available for free to the commuters for the first half an hour after which it will be chargeable. The charges are yet to be decided.

Officials said the system will be an open Wi-Fi system where people can just switch on their Wi-Fi connection on their mobile phones/tabs and enjoy uninterrupted data services without having the hassle of logging in through protected password or any security codes. A Singapore telecom service provider has been roped in to provide the service.

“We have been taking several measures to provide better services to the commuters. We are in the final stage of launching the internet facility at bus depots. We might start the services on all 14 bus depots simultaneously or in phases. This has not been decided yet,” said Sabu Daniel, chair man of Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport.

The Wi-Fi service was started in two routes in January — route number 105 (CBD Belapur to Bandra railway station) and route number 123 ( Kharghar Jalvayu Vihar to Borivli railway station). However, due to connectivity issues, the service has been discontinued.

“We were getting severe connectivity issues with the last service provider hence we discontinued their services. We have already tied up with another company and will resume the services on the same routes soon,” said the official.

Officials said the civic body will take some time to start the two hybrid buses it has procured under the JNNURM 2 scheme since the code of conduct is on. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation will have bypoll for ward no 6 (Digha) next month.

“We will ply t he hybrid buses mostly on the smoother routes which pass through Palm Beach Road, Vashi and Kopar Khairane since these buses run slow and cannot ply on busy traffic routes,” said Shirish Aradwad, transport manager of NMMT.

The rest of the hybrid buses will be introduced in phases if the first two buses trial run is successful.