PUNE The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) is all set to rent out their diesel buses to smaller municipal corporations, and soon they will be giving 20 diesel buses to the Solapur Municipal Corporation. This is the first time when a public transport body from Pune will rent out their buses to another governing body in the state. The PMPML also plans to provide CNG buses to IT companies. However, commuter and passenger groups are disappointed with the decision. Already, commuters are not getting adequate buses frequently and now if the buses are given outside, it will affect Pune’s public transportation.
Currently, there are around 2,195 buses in the PMPML fleet out of which 956 buses are on contract basis and the rest are owned by the PMPML. Daily, around 1,400 to 1,600 buses run on roads across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad but these are proving inadequate for the increasing number of commuters. There is a need for 3,500 buses for the daily fleet to run and now if buses are given outside Pune on rent, this will certainly affect public transportation.
“Soon, 600 new electric buses are going to get added to our fleet and so our number of buses will also increase. As the Solapur municipal corporation is smaller, we are going to rent out 20 diesel buses from our fleet. We have plans to provide eco-friendly public transportation to Punekars with maximum CNG and electric buses in our fleet,” said Laxminarayan Mishra, chairman and managing director of PMPML.
There are 233 diesel buses in the PMPML fleet and the organsiation is now moving towards CNG and electric buses. So there are plans to convert the existing diesel buses to CNG and accordingly, the work is also going on. “After the lockdown restrictions were eased in the state, the daily travelling of Punekars has increased as all offices and schools are running at full capacity. In this situation giving our buses elsewhere is not the right decision and first, the PMPML should provide better frequency of buses with good facilities,” said Atul Namekar, secretary of the Sinhagad road - Warje Residents’ Association.
{{/usCountry}}There are 233 diesel buses in the PMPML fleet and the organsiation is now moving towards CNG and electric buses. So there are plans to convert the existing diesel buses to CNG and accordingly, the work is also going on. “After the lockdown restrictions were eased in the state, the daily travelling of Punekars has increased as all offices and schools are running at full capacity. In this situation giving our buses elsewhere is not the right decision and first, the PMPML should provide better frequency of buses with good facilities,” said Atul Namekar, secretary of the Sinhagad road - Warje Residents’ Association.
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