The loss of Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT), an undertaking of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), has increased during the COVID 19 period.
Since many of its buses were used for health and essential services, the loss kept mounting during the period. While salary, fuel, and other expenses continued to incur, the income of the transport wing of NMMC from running buses dipped sharply.
According to an official from the NMMT, the monthly loss of the transport undertaking reached Rs 8 crore from Rs 6 crore during the COVID period.
NMMT has 485 buses in its fleet and run in 72 routes. However, due to COVID 19 norms, it has been running with half of its capacity in buses. “The cost of running buses has not come down, but the income has certainly come down to maintain the social distancing inside the buses,” said a senior official from NMMT. “Even in the present situation, the per day income is around Rs 20 to Rs22 lakh which was around Rs40 lakh during before the lockdown,” said the official.
Despite NMMT runs its buses in most of the routes whether it is Navi Mumbai, Thane, Panvel, Kalyan-Dombivali, Badlapur or Mumbai, very few routes are profitable.
During the lockdown, a total of 25 buses were converted into ambulances for hospital services. In addition, NMMC buses were also used to ferry migrant workers and officials of the state government including the police. “We can expect a rise in revenue after the situation improves in days to come,” said the official.
At present, the NMMT is using around 385 buses per day from its 485 buses fleet. “We will increase the frequency in few routes once more passengers will be allowed,” added the official.
