Commuters suffer due to shortage of MSRTC buses
Major block on Mumbai's Central Railway Line led to overcrowded MSRTC bus stops. 35 extra buses dispatched to Mumbai, but commuters also used private cabs.
Due to the major block on the Central Railway Line in Mumbai, passengers relied on buses and flooded the MSRTC bus stops at Swargate, Pune Railway Station, and Shivajinagar on Sunday.
The MSRTC reported that 35 additional buses were dispatched to Mumbai to help ease the situation. However, commuters also used private cabs and taxis outside the bus stops when the buses filled up, leaving little room for more passengers.
The 63-hour mega block began at Thane Railway Station, and at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus on Friday, May 31, causing significant inconvenience to those travelling to Mumbai by railways.
According to commuters, the number of buses being deployed was fewer than claimed. However, MSRTC information division controller Pramod Nehul maintained that 35 extra buses were deployed each day since Friday to tide over the bus shortage crisis.
Samrat Shinde, a traveller from Pune, stated, “Because the trains were cancelled, we had no choice but to use the public transit route, but the buses were overloaded, so we chose to take cab service to Mumbai for our work. The MSRTC should have deployed at least 100 buses to accommodate commuter demand,” he remarked.
