NMMT TO HOLD BUS DAY ON FEB 23, EYES MORE REVENUE

NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) will observe ‘ Bus day’ on February 23. The plan is to encourage more people to opt for the corporation’s bus service for a day and not to take out their vehicles.

“We will have ‘ Bus day’ on February 23, which is the first time initiative of the civic transport body. Currently, we are plying around 270 buses everyday however on the bus day we aim to ply around 370 of our buses which is almost 100 percent of the fleet,” said Sabu Daniel, chairman of NMMT.

A similar initiative was started by Pune Municipal Transport around three years ago and it was a success. Officials said that they are expecting a favourable response here too.

“We will give out messages like ‘travel maximum by NMMT buses’, ‘use your own city’s bus service’, or ‘ travel by NMMT, travel safe’ through posters, banners and pamphlets. Volunteers will be deployed to urge commuters to take the bus,” he said.

NMMT has a fleet of 376 buses, of these, 318 buses ply. A total of 145 are diesel- run, 161 are CNG and the rest are AC Volvo buses.

The buses ply in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan and Uran. The buses ply on 55 routes, of which, 16 are feeder routes. The transport body will introduce three more feeder routes on Bus Day which will pass through Belapur, Ulwe, Vashi, Kopar Khairane and Ghansoli.

Officials said NMMT earns Rs1.7 crore to Rs2 crore monthly. “We have been suffering a loss of around Rs2.5 crore monthly for the past 2-3 years. The starting of new feeder routes last year has brought down the losses by almost 40 per cent. Through Bus Day, we aim to urge more people to use NMMT buses,” said Shirish Aradwad, transport manager, NMMT.

Commuters have welcomed the initiative. “In today’s times when the pollution levels are so high in the city, it is essential to use minimum vehicles,” said Surabhi Iyer, 29, resident of Nerul.