From Sept 23, hop on to Panvel-Mantralya AC bus

With the success of the newly introduced special bus service between Panvel and Mantralya in July, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to introduce an air-conditioned (AC) Sheetal bus service between the two places.

It is likely to start from September 23 from Panvel state transport bus depot.

Commuters from Panvel will not only save at least 30 minutes to reach south Mumbai, but will also have a comfortable journey in the semi luxury AC buses by paying a little extra. This bus service will run via the Eastern Express freeway.

“The direct bus service for Mantralaya was a long-pending demand of the residents of Panvel and nearby areas, which was fulfilled a month ago. With the star of AC buses in the region, commuting would become more convenient,” said Rashmi Thakur, a resident of Panvel.

Deepak Kapoor, vice-chairman and managing director of MSRTC, confirmed the decision and said, “This service will benefit residents of Panvel and Navi Mumbai who travel everyday to Mantralya and CST for office and business purposes.”

Kapoor added that the decision to introduce Sheetal bus was taken after the success of Panvel-Mantralya normal bus services.

“The normal bus service is getting around 76% occupancy in both ways and we expect the Sheetal bus to also get a similar response,” said Kapoor.

Recently, Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) scraped the Panvel-Mantralaya air-conditioned bus services due to poor response. Now, NMMT is plying the bus from Nerul instead.

Currently, the AC bus will run five days a week and after assessing the response, the state transport will run the buses everyday.

According to MSRTC officials, the new service will cover the distance of 52km in one hour and five minutes via Kamothe, Konkan Bhavan, Nerul and Vashi highway. The fare will be Rs97 per head from Panvel to Mantralaya.