Pune: Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) is all set to resume its bus service today after the break of five months in the city.
The public transport service, however, will work according to the new standard operating procedure (SOP). The news SOP has been prepared keeping in mind all the safety procedures to be taken against COVID-19.
Here's how your travel by PMPML will look now:
Keeping the current COVID-19 outbreak in mind, buses have been modified and now they will have a transparent separation between the driver and passengers
Sanitiser spray for the driver and conductor apart from a mask and a face shield will be provided
At the important bus stops, temperature guns will be used to check the temperature of every passenger boarding the bus
Sanitiser bottle for passengers
Person below the age of 10 years or above 65 years are strictly prohibited from boarding the bus
Any passenger who is not wearing a mask will not be allowed to board the bus
To minimize the contact between passengers and conductor, a coin box will be kept in the bus
The bus will be washed every night
The bus will also be disinfected at big bus stops
Only 20 passengers will be allowed to board the bus - 17 sitting and three standing at a time
The passengers will sit in a zig-zag manner on alternate seats as per the marking on seats
In the first phase, 421 buses will ply on 190 routes in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and suburbs.
Check out this video to know how your travel by PMPML will look now:
Meanwhile, Pune district reported 3,535 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its count to 1,77,282 on Wednesday, a health official said.
He said the death toll reached 4,257 with 74 more patients succumbing to the novel coronavirus infection in the western Maharashtra district.
Also, 1,408 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the official said.
"Of the 3,535 cases, 1,627 were reported from areas under Pune Municipal Corporation limits (the city), where the count rose to 98,695.
"With 1,011 cases, Pimpri-Chinchwad's COVID-19 tally increased to 51,307," he said.
The number of positive cases in rural and Pune Cantonment Board areas increased to 27,280, he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
