Bus pass centres open in Vashi, Belapur again

NAVI MUMBAI: After nearly 17 months, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) reopened its bus pass centres in Vashi and Belapur on Thursday. The daily commuters will now be able to purchase their monthly, quarterly and yearly passes from these centres.

Two other centres in Koparkhairane and Airoli will also be reopened soon. Due to Covid, NMMT had shut all these centres in March last year except the one in Turbhe.

Yogesh Kaduskar, general manager of NMMT, said, “As far as the pandemic is concerned, the scenario is much better in Navi Mumbai at present. Therefore, we have decided to reopen all bus pass centres in the city. The commuters can now purchase bus passes at the Vashi and Belapur centres like they used to do before the pandemic. The other two centres in Koparkhairane and Airoli will also be opened very soon.”

Apart from Navi Mumbai, the NMMT buses go to different places of Mumbai, Borivali, Bandra, World Trade Centre, Andheri, Mulund, Thane, Dombivli,

Kalyan, Badlapur, Kharghar, Kalamboli, Panvel, Ulwe Node, Karanjade, Koproli and Uran.

The total route length for all their services is 1,895 km. The average length of all routes is approximately 26km (maximum of 62km and minimum of 3km). The average headway for all routes is 15 minutes (maximum of 65 minutes and minimum of 7 minutes).

Ajit Patil, a relieved 41-yearold resident of Belapur, said, “I travel to my workplace in Vashi every day by NMMT buses. Since the bus pass centre in Belapur was shut for so long, I had to spend ₹30 every day (₹15 for a one-way ticket). Now, since the pass centre has been reopened, I can purchase a monthly pass by paying just ₹300.”

After 17 months, NMMT reopens pass centres in Vashi and Belapur.