‘Cool’ bus journey to Baramati in a month

Pune: The bus journey to Baramati from the city would become a cosy affair with Shivshahi buses set to ply on the route in a month.
The route would be covered under the ‘Project Shivshahi’ of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). The objective of the project is to connect more semi-urban towns with Shivshahi buses.

Srinivas Joshi, the divisional controller of the MSRTC’s Pune division, told TOI that the idea was to introduce the service of these air-conditioned buses — spacious with comfortable seats — to towns located 50-100km from Pune. “We want to give people an affordable bus ride with all comforts for shorter distances. With Pune having the largest fleet of Shivshahi buses in the entire state, they are being put to best use through the initiative,” he said.

Another official said, “Earlier, Shivshahi buses used to connect places at a distance of 250km, which can be called long routes. The focus has changed now and smaller cities close to the city are set to have this bus service. The fares are very affordable and one has to pay a maximum of Rs30 to Rs50 more for a comfortable journey.”

He said, “Recently, we have started plying these buses from Pune to Goa and Mahabaleshwar. We are receiving good passenger response on these routes. The service to Shirdi has also been started recently. With long routes covered, now the shorter routes are being taken care of.”

Last week, MSRTC submitted a proposal to its headquarters for running Shivshahi buses on three routes connecting Junnar taluka in Khed.