From today, you can travel by KDMT bus from Dombivli to Panvel station

The services are resuming after two years, and is expected to earn profits for the transport body.

The bus route from Dombivli to Panvel, which was suspended two years, will resume from Friday.

The bus service was stopped due to lack of staff and buses. (HT FILE)

Commuters can take the first bus which leaves Char Rasta at 8am.

The Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) had stopped the service because of lack of buses and staff shortage.

“The civic transport body has decided to resume the bus service between Dombivli and Panvel as it has a huge demand, “said Sanjay Pawse, chairman of KDMT.

The bus service will start form Char rasta in Dombivli (East) via Kalyan phata to Panvel city. “The civic transport body had been planning to restart the service to Panvel city. But it couldn’t because of lack of drivers, conductors and buses,” added Pawse, who will inaugurate the bus service on Friday morning.

Throughout the day, the buses will take 24 scheduled trips. The first bus will leave Dombivli at 8am and the last one will leave at 8.55pm.

KDMT member Santosh Chavan had been demanding restarting the service for the last two years.

As per the department, the Vashi-Panvel-Bhiwandi-Malanggad route is profitable.

Currently, KDMT buses ply from Kalyan to Vashi and Panvel and Dombivli to Vashi.

“Travelling by train to Panvel is difficult as trains at Dombivli station are crowded. Also, one has to change trains at Thane station to reach Panvel. A bus service on the route is the need of the hour. I travel to Panvel by train. If the buses are on time, I will travel by bus,” said Utteja Mhatre, 26, a resident of Manpada in Dombivli, who travels to Panvel by train for work.

The KDMT is running under losses of around Rs2 lakh daily. The transport body said it is because of lack of staff and rickety buses.

Earlier, it used to earn Rs7 to Rs8 lakhs a day. For the last five years, due to the increasing irregularities in the bus services, the income of the department has reduced to Rs5lakh to 6 lakh every day.

Last year, mayor Rajendra Devlekar had told the transport department to improve its services or it would be privatised. However, the KDMT is coming up with several ways to improve its services by hiring more staff, introducing new routes and developing its depots.