This follows a proposal floated by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) that PMPML pull out buses from city outskirts and rural routes and start focusing on its core competency: to provide better bus service within the city. If this proposal goes through, then the company will need to add 200 more buses to ply within city limits.

“According to Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) norms, the company should have close to 2,500 buses. The MSRTC is already providing services in the rural areas. Since PMPML already has limited buses, it ought to leave the outskirts to the MSRTC and focus on the city,” said RTA member Baba Shinde.

While PMPML is quite keen on this proposal, the MSRTC is reluctant and has said that it does not have the resources to press additional buses on these routes.

“ If PMPML reduces its buses on these routes, we will not be able to augment our services. We are already short of buses and staff,” said P P Nimsarkar, divisional controller, MSRTC. “It was the PMT that insisted on taking up these routes in the mid 1980s. Now, the population in these areas has increased tremendously over the years; its development has been more city-specific and PMPML has been catering to this population. Already the people are finding the existing bus network inadequate; reducing services of PMPML would be an injustice to them,” he added.

In many ways things have come a full circle, as it was the erstwhile Pune Municipal Transport in 1985 that had wrested these routes from the MSRTC and insisted on plying its buses on rural routes like Rajgurunagar, Saswad and Paud. “It was a mistake by PMT and it does not mean that it cannot be rectified. Moreover, at that time PMT had the means and was not at a loss. Now it is not so,” said Shinde. The RTA has called a meeting on October 27 to discuss the issue further.

To begin with, Shinde is looking at rationalising the routes and coordinate the timings of both buses. “Eventually, we ought to ease off PMPML buses from the outskirts,” Shinde said.

PMPML is keen on turning over the routes to MSRTC eventually. “We have near about 200 buses plying on rural outskirts. On these routes we end up competing with the MSRTC, and both organisations lose revenue,” Patil said. He added that as PMPML has no bus depots outside city limits buses have to travel empty to the outskirts in the mornings to bring commuters into the city.