Adding buses wont help,PMPML needs better management

Earlier this week,the Union government approved a procurement of 500 buses under JNNURM for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

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Emphasising on the need to improve the management of PMPML,commuter organisations have pointed out that merely adding buses to the fleet might prove to be counter-productive as it would add to financial and operational problems faced by the already beleaguered transport body.

Earlier this week,the Union government approved a procurement of 500 buses under JNNURM for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The civic administration had actually proposed to buy 1,600 buses.

Along with regular buses,the administration had also sought to purchase 29-seater mini-buses that were to ply in the downtown and Peth areas. The state government had approved the proposal in September after which it was forwarded to the Central government.

Adding more buses without proper planning,infrastructure upgrade,manpower recruitment and proper management will only add to financial and operational problems to the PMPML,which is already on the deathbed, said Jugal Rathi of the PMP Pravasi Manch.

He said PMPML had some time back purchased 650 buses in a similar fashion,but it hardly solved the issues faced by the transport body and the common commuters.

Today,the PMPML service has no reliability,the buses are badly maintained and are dirty all the time,fares are highest among the intra-city transport services in the country,there is a large and unhealthy proportion of off-road buses,losses are piling up every year and ridership is going down with each passing year, said Rathi.

Prashant Inamdar,convenor of Pedestrians First,said PMPML has not been able to use its existing fleet effectively. We hope the new buses will be put to proper use.

The PMPML currently has a fleet of about 1,300 buses.

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