TMT assures more buses in its fleet

The Thane Municipal Transport (TMT), which has tabled it annual budget of Rs 458.13 crore on Friday, has not announced any increase in fare, but assured to increase the frequency of bus services to attract maximum footfalls of passengers. "This year the TMT has not announced any fare hike in TMT services. This year the TMT has decided to increase its fleet by more 350 buses to its fleet. The TMT has witnessed a loss of around Rs 80 crore due to the pandemic. In the budget of Rs 458.13 crore, the TMT has proposed a fund of Rs 284.63 crore for this purpose," said Dnyaneshwar Dhere, TMT transport manager.

"Apart from the financial loss to the TMT amid pandemic, the department also lost the lives of 14 employees to COVID. During the same time, total of 30 buses of TMT were turned into ambulance for COVID patients. By the end of 2021, we are looking to increase the total fleet to around 700 buses," said a senior official from TMT department. Besides, the TMT officials has also announced to develop the alloted plot for TMT, existing depots, installing solar power plants to save the electricity and also to survey more new routes to benefit both passengers and TMT economically.

"At present, total of 333 buses are in TMT's fleet, among these only 110 are run by TMT, while remaining are functional on GCC (Gross Cross Contract) policy. The TMT aims to add 200 more buses on PPP policy, 100 electrical buses and 50 mini buses in TMT's fleet," added the TMT official. –