On record
Billed as the country's first fully air-conditioned ISBT, this three-terminal, 1,900-bus-capacity facility opened in December 2016 but was reported within months to be finding "no takers": passengers continued using the older, dilapidated Phase VIII stand and Chandigarh's Sector 43 ISBT instead, and years later locals still described buses entering and exiting "without stopping" as almost no passengers were present.
The official record states: "Officials pointed to poor location and connectivity plus the failure to de-notify the old Phase VIII bus stand, which meant operators faced no penalty for continuing to skip the new terminal."
“The country's first fully air-conditioned ISBT, ₹700 crore, capacity 1,900 buses, occupancy: cool air.”— Blunderlust Editorial Desk
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Banda_Singh_Bahadur_Inter_State_Bus_Terminus
- https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/country-s-first-ac-bus-stand-in-mohali-finds-no-takers-1491049120.html
Visitor reviews Satire
“The country's first fully air-conditioned bus terminal, seven hundred crore, capacity nineteen hundred buses, occupancy roughly nil.”
“Buses drive in one gate and out the other without stopping, because there is nobody inside to pick up.”
“The old Phase VIII stand was never de-notified, so there was never any reason for an operator to come here.”
