PUNE: The Pune and Pimpri

municipal corporations on Saturday decided to procure 1,000 new

for the

by September next year.

Of the 1,000 buses, as many as 400 CNG-fitted buses worth around Rs200 crore together would be procured by both the civic bodies.

The remaining 450 CNG and 150 electric buses would be hired on contract in the next few months.

About 50 new CNG and 25 electric buses would be made available by the end of January next year.

A decision to this effect was approved on Saturday in the board of directors’ meeting of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML).

Addressing a news conference on Saturday, Pune mayor Mukta Tilak and Siddharth Shirole, the director of PMPML, said, “With the addition of the new buses, the PMPML fleet will comprise over 2,000 vehicles. It will help us ply buses at an interval of every five minutes.”

At present, about 1,450 buses are playing across the city.

Passengers and activists have been demanding an increase in the bus frequency, but both the civic bodies did not act on it.

The PMPML authorities had been told to submit its detailed plan for revenue generation, said Tilak.

“There was a proposal of increasing the bus fare by Rs2, but we did not consider it as it is not the only way of generating revenue. We need to develop a proper revenue generation model, which should be effective for at least five years. We deliberated on some revenue generation plans such as giving PMPML properties on lease and effective bus management, among others,” Tilak said.

There were discussions on the safety of passengers as well against the backdrop of 25 PMPML buses catching fire because of short circuit in the past two years.

“We have told the PMPML officials to take measures to avoid such accidents,” Shirole said, adding that the officials were told to submit fire audit report.

Tilak pointed out that old buses would be phased out in the coming months.

“These buses are incurring extra expenditure on repair and jeopardizing passengers’ safety,” she added.

She also said the PMMPML would provide 4.5 acres of land for the Metro station at Swargate.

A decision in this regard was taken at the board of directors’ meeting on Saturday.