Rickety Thane civic buses eye improvement in a month

With merely 45 per cent of the total number of Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) buses plying on the roads every day, the public transport system of the civic body has come under the scanner in the last few days.

The civic commissioner and the mayor have announced more buses within a month to review the service.

They have also promised to revive the service within the next one month.

Rickety old buses, increase in breakdowns and cancellations are some of the many problems faced by commuters travelling in the TMT buses.

An officer, requesting anonymity, said, “Thane’s population is 20 lakh. As per the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, there should be 30 buses for every one lakh commuters. As per the ratio, Thane should have 600 buses. There are 363 buses with the transport body. But not more than 170 buses are operational at a given time. The TMT’s daily earning is merely Rs22 lakh but the expenses are much higher.”

The TMT has received much flak from the general body in the recent meeting.

TMC commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal said, “We had conducted a meeting to strengthen the TMT buses ply on 74 routes. More 120 buses will be added to the TMT’s fleet by March.

transport services this week. Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the city was sanctioned 190 buses. Out of this, we will receive 70 new buses by August-end. More 120 buses will be added to the TMT’s fleet by March next year.”

Fifty out of the 70 buses will be midi buses while the remaining 20 will be low-floor buses.

He added, “We have pledged to do whatever is possible to strengthen the services. I have given a month’s time to transport officers to bring about effective changes in the service.”

A member of the TMT committee, requesting anonymity, said: “The service has deteriorated in the last few years with no hope for revival. It is one of the perennially ailing services of the TMC. The TMT condition is so bad that it can barely pay off the salaries of the employees, leave alone repairing and maintaining buses.”

In June, the TMT announced that it would think of starting dedicated bus services for women in the city to ensure safety of women commuters.