Pune-Shirdi Shivneri service cancelled

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s (MSRTC) Pune-Shirdi Shivneri bus service which was started last month was discontinued on Thursday due to poor response from passengers. This is not the first bus service which has been discontinued by MSRTC. Earlier, MSRTC had to discontinue Nagpur-Pune and Pune-Udaipur bus service for similar reasons.

The Pune division of MSRTC had sent a proposal to the central office in Mumbai to start Pune-Shirdi Shivneri bus service which was accepted by the central office and Pune-Shirdi bus was started from Shivajinagar ST depot from last month. However, within a month, they had to discontinue the service due to poor response.

Vilas Patil, senior depot manager of Shivajinagar ST depot, told DNA, “The occupancy was only 30 to 40%  of its capacity which is inadequate. There was no booking for Thursday’s trip. Hence, we had to cancel the trip.” MSRTC runs the Pune-Shirdi service twice a week and the fare is Rs 477. According to officials, since the fare is high, passengers prefer not to travel by Shivneri bus.