The Government of Meghalaya has opened the registration for seats in Sustainable Transport and Efficient Mobility Society (STEMS) buses– a shared school bus commute for Shillong city as a step towards decongesting the city.
In a Press Statement, Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Transport and Efficient Mobility Society (STEMS), Shillong Isawanda Laloo said, “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.”
The manual step-by-step registration has been uploaded on https://stems-meghalaya.nic.in/ for reference and also be circulated to parents through the school authorities. The app will shortly be available on the iOS App Store.
The project is run 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,” Laloo said.
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,” she added.
The Chief Executive Officer further mentioned “For any queries, parents can contact the customer care helplines at 0364-3500097/ 0364-3500098 during office hours or email to [email protected].”
It may be mentioned that in the pilot phase, only 900 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.