PUNE: Fifty mid-sized pink airconditioned buses will start plying in the core areas of the city from next month with a one-time fare of Rs10 for a day-long ride.
Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) officials said these buses will replace the ATAL (aligning transit on all lanes) bus service which had started in the core areas of the city last year, offering a 5km ride for Rs5 per trip.
“The new buses are at the regional transport office for fitness tests and certification.
We expect these buses to run in the next10-15 days.
We are hoping for a good response as the buses are air-conditioned and commuters have to pay a one-time fare of Rs10 for the whole day,” a PMPML official told TOI .
The buses will run in the Shivajinagar, Deccan, Pune station, Poolgate and Swargate areas.
If a commuter boards the bus at Swargate till Pune station, he will be charged Rs10 for the trip but the ticket will remain valid from 5am till late in the night and each time the commuter uses this specific service, the same ticket will be valid.
These buses are expected to decrease people’s dependency on private vehicles, the official said.
‘Coin box’ systemA PMPML official told TOI, “We were testing the system in one of our depots and the trials have been successful.
If the fare from one point to another point is Rs5, the amount can be dropped into a box installed in the buses and the ticket will automatically be issued.”