CTU to start shuttle bus service to Chandigarh airport

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, February 5

Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) is going to start a shuttle bus service between the ISBT-17 and Chandigarh International Airport, Mohali, shortly. The bus service will be available with a frequency from 20 minutes to a maximum of 40 minutes.

The idea behind starting the shuttle bus service is to improve connectivity between Chandigarh and the airport, and to provide timely service to passengers coming from and going to the airport. — Dharam Pal, UT Adviser

“The idea behind starting the shuttle bus service is to improve connectivity between Chandigarh and the airport and to provide timely service to passengers coming from and going to the airport,” said UT Adviser Dharam Pal.

Pradhuman Singh, Director, Transport, said the bus would stop at Sohana and the ISBT-43 en route. The service will start from the ISBT-17 at 4.20 am and the operation will end at 11.40 pm. Similarly, the bus will leave the airport at 5.20 am and the last bus will depart from the airport at 12.55 am. “The timings of the CTU buses synchronise with the arrival and departure timings of fights at the airport,” he said.

There will be a flat ticket of Rs100 per person for any of the stoppages. A CTU service counter has been set up at the airport, which will guide commuters with respect to the shuttle bus service and other long-route intercity bus services of the CTU, he said.

The counter will also extend the facility of advance online reservation for the CTU long-route services for the onward journey of air travellers. Passenger information boards displaying the expected time of arrival of the airport buses have been installed at the airport. “The CTU has taken this initiative to provide a cheaper and convenient local travel facility for airport commuters,” he said.

Rajat Mishra, a frequent air traveller, said it was a good initiative of the UT Administration to provide economic commuting as an app-based taxi charged nearly Rs400 for travel from the ISBT-17 to the airport. The bus service would also benefit those people who come to the airport by their own vehicles, as they would not only save on their fuel expenses but also the parking fee to be paid at the airport.

Tanvi Sharma, another traveller, said the app-based taxi service charged exorbitantly these days and she would have to switch to other modes of commuting to save money. The new taxi service provided by the Chandigarh Administration would benefit commuters like her, she said.

Meanwhile, Ajay Jagga, former member, District Consumer Protection Council, UT, has demanded a shorter route to the airport for the residents of Chandigarh and Panchkula, and people coming from Himachal Pradesh.

In a letter to the UT Administrator, Jagga has requested that a shuttle service (may be an electric bus) may be considered from the original Chandigarh airport to the new terminal on the Mohali side. “This will save fuel as well as time of commuters, which is being wasted in travelling to Mohali,” he stated.