Bangalore pattern puts PMPML services in top gear

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This system, said Anant Waghmare, PMPML transport manager, has worked to PMPML’s advantage. “We ensured that at least 100 more buses run from 8 am to 12 noon, and 4 pm to 8 pm. Buses are now available every 5 to 10 minutes on routes where the Bangalore pattern is being implemented. Earlier, there were complaints that commuters had to wait for 20 minutes for a bus,” said Waghmare.

Waghmare said that from 5 in the morning to 8 am, autorickshaws are preferred by commuters. There are few bus commuters for three hours in the morning. “Therefore, we are reducing the number of buses that run early in the morning. In near future, there will be at least 500 buses running as per the changed time table,” he said.

Stating that the system helped them save fuel and put extra manpower at their disposal, Waghmare said, “In the broken schedule system, drivers get at least a three-hour break. During this period, they are supposed to look after maintenance of the bus and ensure that there are no breakdowns,” he said.

PMPML spokesperson Deepak Pardeshi said they are getting positive feedback from commuters. One commuter, Sunil Jog of Bavdhan, sent a message to PMPML complimenting the administration for providing more buses on Route No 109 and 110.

Jog said, “I observed that from Bavdhan to city and from Karvenagar areas, buses were less frequent and jam-packed. After the schedule was changed buses were available more frequently and there was space as well. What is surprising is that sometimes you find six buses landing at the bus stop one after the another,” he said.

Jog (61) said, “I have been using my two-wheeler because bus service was not that good….Now I feel I should give up my two-wheeler and frequently travel by bus.”

That is what civic activists in Pune have been clamouring for. Many argue that if PMPML runs services efficiently, fewer people will travel by own vehicles and there would be fewer jams.

PMPML chairman and managing director Shrikar Pardeshi said the system has indeed started paying dividends. “Though my officials are ecstatic, I would like to wait for a couple of months before declaring whether it has succeeded or not. But it is true the system is working in the interest of commuters,” he said. PMPML officials said Bangalore transport body is a profit-making organisation. “And therefore we decided to borrow its idea which has worked in that city,” officials said.