123Pune.com

PUNE, APR 20: The sharp fall in the number of passengers to 58 lakh passengers on a daily-basis from a carrying capacity of one crore has forced the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to review its existing strategy and upgrade services.

Burdened by an ageing fleet, the corporation has purchased 1,200 new buses in 2006-07 with another 2,035 buses to come in the following year. At present, MSRTC has a fleet of 15,500 buses.

The expensive Volvos running on the Mumbai-Pune route will soon give way to Chinese luxury buses called King Long. “Ten new Chinese buses will be purchased in 15 days. We have 20 odd Volvos. The Chinese buses cost Rs 55 lakh while the Volvo buses are priced higher by Rs 20 lakh,” Sudhakar Paricharak, chairman, MSRTC, said.

“These buses will ply on the Mumbai, Pune, Hubli, Indore, Bangalore and Nagpur routes. The corporation will soon introduce 60-seater CNG and LPG buses on the shorter routes where refueling facilities are available,” he said. The body would be built by MSRTC itself at its workshop, while the chassis would come from Tata Motors or Ashok Leyland, he explained.“MSRTC has a capacity of carrying one crore passengers daily. However, due to other private operators running their buses across the state, is transporting only 58 lakh passengers per day, leaving a carrying capacity of 42 lakh seats vacant. We have begun to increase atleast four passengers per trip on the 85,000 routes plied on a daily basis,” Paricharak said.

MSRTC has been running into losses since 1997. It reported a loss of Rs 37 lakh in 2005-06.

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