Two days of heavy rain lead to breakdown of 150 PMPML buses
"There were 61 breakdowns on May 19 and 89 on May 20. However, it is less compared to breakdowns on July 24 and 25, last year. The reasons are rain and its after-effects," public relations officer of the transport body Kishore Chauhan told TOI.
"I was travelling in a bus from Pune Municipal Corporation building towards the Raja Bahadur Mills Road around 6pm. The bus stopped suddenly and the driver said it wouldn't go further because a tyre had a puncture.
All passengers struggled till another PMPML bus arrived. Many who got off were drenched while they looked for other means of transport," said Parag Seere, a daily commuter.
On Wednesday morning,
PMPML CMD Deepa Mudhol Munde
was in a PMPML bus which broke down at Pulgate. Munde was travelling from Shevalwadi to Kothrud on a new CNG bus belonging to a private contractor in a bid to interact with passengers. She had to switch to her car.
Meanwhile, in the two days of July, last year, PMPML had recorded 233 breakdowns.
On July 24, the number stood at 105 and 128 on July 25. On any regular day, daily breakdowns are between 48 and 50, officials said.
"On Tuesday, we tried to control the breakdowns, but it was raining very heavily. Water entered the electrical circuits of many buses, while others faced the problem of punctured tyres. Vehicles operated by private contractors witnessed far more faults than those owned by PMPML. Only 19 PMPML-owned buses suffered breakdowns on May 20 and 17 on May 19. Rental buses, including e-buses, were stuck in major traffic jams on practically all roads in the evenings.
We are talking to contractors and directing them to do all maintenance required for buses to operate without problems," a senior PMPML official said.
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