The Times of India  30.09.2010

PUNE: The new buses being procured by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd under the JNNURM will be operated and maintained on public-private partnership basis.

According to PMPML officials, each private operator will get to run a minimum of 150 buses for a period of 10 years. They will have to pay Rs 12 lakh per bus to the PMPML.

In the partnership arrangement, the PMPML will collect the ticket revenues and make monthly payments to the private operator for operations. The routes and schedules of buses will be decided by the PMPML.

The central government, under its scheme for funding of buses as part of the JNNURM, had sanctioned 650 buses for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations in February 2009. The transport body has been able to procure only 150 buses till now. The remaining buses are expected to be delivered in phases from October.

According to officials, initially, 450 buses would be given to private operators for operation and maintenance. This number is likely to increase. The new buses will have an unique colour combination, the officials added.

Last week, divisional commissioner Dilip Band, who is holding additional charge of the PMPML's chairman and managing director, had said that, in addition to the 650 buses sanctioned by the central government, another 200 buses have been sanctioned in principle by the government for Pune. Band made a reference to the controversy regarding the position of bus doors and said that the new buses will have doors on both sides.

Band said that a plan is in the offing to ply 200 air-conditioned buses on PPP basis. The objective is to attract people using cars, he added.