The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC), a state-run corporation, introduced a ladies’ special bus on Monday.

The bus, in which only women can travel, has been introduced in north Bengal for the first time.

The 32-seater bus started running along the Cooch Behar-Alipurduar route on Monday.

“The driver of the bus is a man but the conductor is a woman. In due course, we plan to introduce more such buses in other routes where only a female passengers can travel,” said Partha Pratim Roy, the chairman of the NBSTC.

Every day, the bus, carrying only female passengers, leaves Cooch Behar at 10am for Alipurduar which is around 25 kilometres away.

From Alipurduar, it departs at 11.30am. From Cooch Behar, it leaves at 2.30am. From Alipurduar, it again starts at 4pm.

The NBSTC has 22 women conductors. “They used to work in buses earlier. However, later they were posted across different offices of the NBSTC. We have identified 10 among them who will take turns to do their duties in this bus,” Roy added.

The new service has drawn appreciation from women who commute daily on the route.

“It was our longstanding demand that buses meant only for women should be introduced in the district. It is good that finally one such bus service has been launched,” said a working woman who commutes to Alipurduar every day from Cooch Behar.