Maharashtra to hire 240 A-C buses

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) is planning to acquire 240 air-conditioned buses on lease that will connect prominent cities in the state with major destinations in the neighbouring states including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore and Goa.

The move, apart from an attempt to address the rising demand for air-conditioned buses within the state, is aimed at getting back the passenger traffic from private busses that is cutting into its revenues.

Senior officials in the MSRTC's traffic department told Business Standard that some routes in the state's rural areas will also ply air-conditioned buses. MSRTC is looking at leasing the popular Volvo or Kinglong buses which will be on roads by early next year, the officials said. "The buses will be acquired on short-term lease basis," they said.

MSRTC at present has a fleet of about 15,000 buses, which include semi-luxury, luxury and air-conditioned buses. The new air-conditioned buses would connect Pune and Mumbai to Hyderabad, Bangalore and Goa. Cities like Nagpur and Nashik will have MSRTC buses running up to Ahmedabad and Indore.

"MSRTC has been operating Volvo buses between Pune and Mumbai and a few other cities for the last three years. There is a sizeable demand for air-conditioned bus services across the state. During summer, a number of private air-conditioned buses draw more passengers against MSRTC service. Hence, we have decided to compete with private bus operators through this scheme," the officials said.

MSRTC has not been offering high-frequency services to cities outside the state. "Cities like Panaji, Indore, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad have huge passenger potential, which has been exploited by private bus operators. We plan to launch air-conditioned bus services for these cities at passenger-friendly timing," they said.

The state-owned corporation also plans to run these air-conditioned buses in rural parts of Maharashtra. MSRTC is yet to make revenue projections out of this lease practice.

Swiss bus Volvo is manufactured at Yelachahalli, a villages near Bangalore in Karnataka, and is priced at Rs 75 lakh.

The alternative bus by Chinese Kinglong is priced between Rs 55 lakh and Rs 62 lakh and is assembled by Chandigarh-based JCBL. Both these buses are being used by various state transport bodies for the last few years. MSRTC wants private bus contractors and owners to lease out their buses to the state transport body.

"After a long dry spell, MSRTC made a profit of Rs 15 crore last year. Hence, at this moment, we are not interested in making huge investments in vehicles. Therefore, the new buses will come on lease," he said.