After a six-year wait, the air-conditioned bus will begin its trial run on the new BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System) road route built in Indore at a cost of Rs 135 crore, from May 10.

It will be a free city travel for a while to passengers on the 11.46 kms road route during off-peak hours, District Collector Akash Tripathi, who held a review meeting on the BRTS operation yesterday, said in a press release.

Eight buses will ply on the route and if passenger load increases, 20 buses would be pressed into service on the BRTS.

Built on the pattern of Ahmedabad BRTS, city travellers will have bus frequency every 15 minutes at every specific point.

BRTS is built on the existing AB (Agra-Bombay) road from Rajiv Gandhi statue to Dewas Naka by expanding road in breadth, and to avoid traffic jams, the bus is run during off-peak hours, the Collector said.

The trial runs would be conducted from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 8 to 10 p.m.

Passengers will not be charged during the trial runs but a free ticket would be issued to them.

Drivers, marshals, traffic police and the executing agencies have been trained during the past one month for effective bus operations.

BRTS is being built in Indore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Mission.