More buses to take pinch off autorickshaw union strike

Being a Sunday,the brunt of the strike was mostly borne by travellers. With schools and offices starting on Monday,citizens are apprehensive.

Manasi Phadnis,a resident of Kothrud who takes a rickshaw to her office in Deccan,usually leaves 30 minutes earlier. “With the strike on,I shall have to leave at least an hour earlier,” she said.

The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) has announced buses on four new routes  — Pune Station-Kharadi,Pune Station-Vishrantwadi,PMC building-Vishrantwadi & Swargate-Dhayari.

It said in a release that it would ply extra buses on Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad,Katraj-Shivajinagar,Swargate-Pune Station,Pune Station-Hadapsar,Pune Station-Kothrud Depot,Pune Station-Warje Malwadi and Swargate-Hadapsar routes.

It said it would ply 50-60 buses on Monday if the strike continued. “We shall change our bus servicing schedule for a day and ply extra buses on routes that have more crowd,” said public relations officer DA Pardeshi.

He said it had appealed to the railway authorities to allow its buses to ply from within the railway station premises so that the commuters would not have to carry their heavy luggage on roads. A similar arrangement was in place during the last rickshaw strike in May 2009.