The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited's (PMPML) decision to purchase 887 buses for Rs 265 crore has not gone down well with noted economist Dr Sulabha Brahme.
The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited's (PMPML) decision to purchase 887 buses for Rs 265 crore has not gone down well with noted economist Dr Sulabha Brahme. Submitting an approach paper on public transport system to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Brahme said, "This purchase benefits only the companies that manufacture these buses and not the commuters. The government's policy is totally wrong."
Of these 887 buses, 200 will be AC buses. According to Brahme, the city does not need any more polluting luxury or semi-luxury buses. "Why is PMPML purchasing AC buses worth Rs 54 lakh when the less-polluting non-AC CNG buses will cost only Rs 22.50 lakh?" she asked. "We need buses like the BEST buses in Mumbai," she remarked.
She also suggested that to promote the use of public transport, the authorities should reduce the use of private vehicles by charging them congestion tax.
Baseless charges
Refuting the charges, Nitin Khade, chairman and managing director, PMPML, said, "There is nothing wrong in providing high quality modern technology-based service."
He added that they were purchasing low-floor buses keeping in mind the Supreme Court's directives for the physically challenged. "We wanted to make our buses more user-friendly for them," he said.
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