Nashik-Pune bus service in demand

NASHIK: The Nashik-Pune and Nashik-Mumbai routes have witnessed a rise in the volume of passengers ever since the state government allowed inter-district passenger operations of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). This has forced the transport utility to increase the number of buses on these routes.
So far, nearly 40,000 people have used the MSRTC services and most of the passenger flow has been from Nashik to Pune.
“Before the pandemic, we had about 45 buses leaving Nashik for Pune. Today, 22 are already back in service. This is because of a large number of people are going to Pune from Nashik. At the same time, services to Mumbai and Borivali are also in great demand. We had six buses to Borivali and six to Mumbai before the Covid crisis as most people used trains on these routes. Today, we are running more buses on these routes to help office-goers in the absence of trains,” an MSRTC officer said.
More than 50% of the traffic generated is between Nashik and Pune, and Nashik and Mumbai. This is followed by travellers to Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Dhule.
The MSRTC has, so far, operated 904 buses that have completed 2,036 trips and carried 40,253 passengers, the MSRTC officers said adding that the corporation had recently introduced the services to Jalgaon as well.