Pune: There are always two sides to a coin. This is what happened when on Sunday Pune Railway division declared a mega block on its Pune Mumbai route. The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) bus collected a whopping sum of Rs19, 868 in a single shift.
Conductor Sukhdeo Jadhav was the person who made it possible. “I have been working with PMPML for the last 14 years and have been on this route for a longer time. Actually, on Sunday, it was a mega block by railway and thus there was rush for PMPML buses”, he said.
“I was on my regular duty on Nigadi Depot of route number-368. and was working in the first shift. Pune to Lonavala is roughly 42 km long and the ticket is Rs 65 between two cities," he said. The number of passengers generally on this route is about 50 to 60, however, on Sunday, we had more than double the passengers. We had over 125 to 150 passengers per trip."
He informed, “It was a Sunday and people rushed to this tourist spot. I am happy they found the PMPML bus convenient and we could serve the passengers to the hilt. Generally, the revenue on this route is Rs10,000 to Rs12,000, but on Sunday we collected more than Rs19,000”.
A PMPML officer said, “Since the local trains were shut, people moved to PMPML buses rather than preferring their cars. The tourist rush at this spot and the traffic jam has always been a problem for many and that could be another reason for the visitors to travel by bus”.
“Daily the route has five buses, however on Sunday we had 10 buses making rounds between two cities”, the officer added.
Meanwhile, recently, PMPML shut down the long-route buses owing to poor revenue generation. “PMPML will be felicitating Jadhav on Republic Day”, added the officer.
"This is one of the highest revenue collected in a shift in PMPML history", added the officer.
