Now, a bookshelf in NMMT buses for commuters to read on the go

The books, at present, are in English, Marathi and Hindi. More will be added as per the demand.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) on Sunday introduced the ‘books on buses' initiative. The buses plying on longer routes will now have a small bookshelf, wherein a commuter can browse and read books till they reach their destination.

The project has been kicked off in air-conditioned buses on the Belapur-Mantralaya, Belapur-Kalyan and Belapur-Bandra routes. If it gets a positive response, the service would be started in over 1,000 buses.

Abhijit Bangar, Navi Mumbai civic chief, scans the QR code pasted on the bus to get a book to read on his smartphone

The project, an initiative by the Let's Read India Foundation, aims to cultivate reading habits in people, in times when people are hooked to social media platforms.

Officials said the books, at present, are in English, Marathi and Hindi. More will be added as per the demand and feedback from commuters.

"This is purely done in order to revive reading habits among people. Around 10-15 years ago, while travelling, we could see people looking out of windows, reading newspapers and books. But now everyone is on their phones. The idea is to bring back the habit of reading in some way. We have done this in long route buses deliberately so that there is enough time for commuters to pick up and see the books. NMMT buses plying on Mantralaya, Kalyan and Bandra routes, take around one and a half hours, and books can add value to one's journey," Abhijit Bangar, Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner, told the media.

Officials said apart from the books, people can scan the QR code pasted in front of their seats and get the materials to read on their smartphones. "We have also made provision in the bus to get the commuters' feedback on the types of books they would like to read," he added.

Let's Read Foundation had also started a library on wheels last year, where a van with books goes to remote places that lack facilities. The primary objective was to bring the WhatsApp and social media generation back to books in some way by rekindling the reading habit and culture among them.

1,000
No. of buses that will eventually get a bookshelf