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Pune, April 23: THE Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to appoint Pune-based Natraj Travels for reservations on Pune-Mangalore route and Mumbai-based Jabbar Travels for booking tickets for the Mumbai-Hyderabad route.

This effort is to counter the stiff competition from private transport agents and operators in the State. MSRTC spokesperson Neera Asthana Phate said private agents have a dense network potential, which the public transport body can utilise if they rope them in to increase passengers. “For the Mumbai-Hyderabad route, the agent has been asked to conduct reservations for 26 seats, while the rest will be done at MSRTC depots,” Asthana said.

The MSRTC is following the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation which initiated such a scheme of hiring agents for booking in various parts of country about 8 years ago. Divisional traffic officer of KSRTC Rajesh S said the transport body has been providing services to commuters from Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa through travel agents. “The agents are given five to ten per cent commissions for booking the tickets,” he said.

He points that such a system not only helps save the revenue in building infrastructure in different states and hiring human resources to man it, but also helps in interaction with commuters. “For a public transport body, interaction with the commuters is the most important aspect. The agents have a direct word with the commuters and the effect is evident with the increasing number of commuters,” he said.

From the end of March, the KSRTC has started operations on Mangalore-Pune route and had appointed Pune-based Natraj Travels for reservations — a private agent — who has been booking tickets for them for the last nine months. As the competitors on the route for KSRTC are private operators, they feel that the travel agents respond effectively to passenger enquiries, grievances.

S Rai from the Natraj Travels says KSRTC gives them a 10 per cent commission for the reservation on the Mangalore-Pune route. “The route is functional during vacations and any festivals. In this month, the occupancy of the buses were full,” he said.

Strike called off
AFTER receiving assurances from deputy chief minister R R Patil on Monday, the Maharashtra Rajya ST Kamgar Sanghtana has decided to call off the one-day strike scheduled on April 25. Patil assured there would be no privatisation of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) as proposed by the ENAM Consultants, who suggested MSRTC be divided into several departments.

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