PUNE: The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) will start the Aligning Transit on All Lanes (ATAL) service from Saturday, under which 42 buses on nine routes will ferry passengers over a distance of 5km at a charge of Rs5.
The service will work on the lines of local trains, where one can switch trains at short distances in order to reach the destination.
In addition, 28 routes on the city’s outskirts will have feeder bus service connecting the last mile at a fare of Rs5, senior PMPML officials said at a news conference on Wednesday. Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol was also present at the interaction.
“The service will play an important role when the Pune metro starts. If a passenger wants to go from Kothrud to Kondhwa, s/he has to wait for 15 to 20 minutes or even more for a bus. Once the service starts, the passenger will be able to get a bus from Kothrud to Deccan at five-minute intervals. From Deccan, the passenger will get a bus at the same frequency for either Swargate or Pune station,” said Rajendra Jagtap PMPML chairman and managing director.
He added that the fare from Kothrud to Deccan and Deccan to either Swargate or Pune station will be Rs5. “Each of the routes are either five or six km long. Midi or mid-sized buses will operate along these special routes,” Jagtap said.
The buses will mainly run in areas like Swargate, Poolgate, Deccan, Shivajinagar, Pune Municipal Corporation and Pune station. “The service will be formally launched from Shaniwarwada on Saturday by state BJP president Chandrakant Patil,” Jagtap said.