‘To draw public,multi-storey parking at bus depots an option’

Band said,”The city faces a grave parking problem. To solve this and to attract more passengers,we can construct multi-storied parking facilities at the key depots like Pune Station,Shivajinagar and Swargate. Once this comes up,people can come to the depots,park their vehicles and board buses for their further journey.”

Band said the idea is still in a conceptual stage and a proposal has to be tabled before the PMPML board of directors.

Band said that at present,approximately 11 lakh passengers commute in PMPML buses and there is scope for improvement.

“The PMPML faces up to Rs 70 crore loss. Even after deducting the grants by the PMC,the figure is at Rs 35 crore. Therefore,we have to try hard to increase the number of passengers.”

The CMD also said there was an urgent need to add more buses to the existing fleet. “On the busiest routes,we have to increase the frequency that public get buses every five minutes.”

He advised the staff not to take tea breaks during peak hours as serving public is more important.

I had to take charge

“I do not know whether taking over the charge of PMPML is good or bad. But I was left with no choice after the state government order. This is again an additional charge but I will see to it that despite my responsibilities as a Divisional Commissioner,I bring some positive changes in PMPML,” said Band.