Shillong: The Government of Meghalaya envisions to offer a well-connected, efficient, climate-resilient and safe transport network for all its citizens. In this regard, one of the planned interventions is the launch of the ‘Shared Commute Bus Service’ with an objective to provide efficient, reliable, safe, and citizen-friendly commute services. The Sustainable Transport and Efficient Mobility Society (STEMS), a society created by the Government of Meghalaya with a mandate to carry out coordinated interventions with different departments and stakeholders to address issues pertaining to urban congestion, is tasked with the operationalization of the bus service.
In the pilot phase, based on a detailed survey and feasibility study, the bus services shall be launched for students of select schools in and around the Laitumkhrah- Dhankheti area. In this regard, STEMS has procured 30 GPS-enabled buses having modern features such as CCTV cameras, live location tracking, a mobile application for seat booking and payment, a bus management platform, assured seats and customer care support. The buses will be run by a dedicated operations team under STEMS consisting of trained supervisors and drivers, while, for ensuring the safety of the enrolled students, trained and child-friendly caretakers have been assigned for each bus. Several rounds of consultations with parents, schools and local headmen have been held and various government departments are actively involved in the implementation of the project. With the introduction of this service, it is aimed to gradually reduce the heavy reliance on private vehicles as a mode of transportation which is found to be inefficient and is one of the major causes of congestion in the capital city especially during peak hours.
The registration for seats in the ‘STEMS Buses’ through the mobile application, ‘STEMS
Meghalaya’ is now open. Interested parents may download the mobile application which is now live on the Google Play Store and proceed for registering their children/wards. The manual for step-by-step registration has been uploaded on https://stems-meghalaya.nic.in/ for reference and will also be circulated to parents through the school authorities. The app will also shortly be available on the iOS App Store.
It may be mentioned that in the pilot phase, only goo seats are available for the STEMS Bus Service. The bus routes and the selection of students for the pilot phase will be done after the registration process is completed and will be based on the demand obtained.
For any queries, parents can contact the customer care helplines at 0364-3500097/ 0364-3500098 during office hours or email to cc.stemsshillong@gmail.com
