MSRTC to deploy additional buses to ferry passengers

The Maharashtra government has decided to run additional MSRTC buses in the MMR region, to provide relief to the citizens.

Anil Parab, State transport minister, called for an emergency meeting on Thursday, September 10, with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). The MSRTC agreed to run an additional 300 bus trips from various parts of the MMR back to Mumbai. As of now, the MSRTC has been running 995 bus trips every day.

Moreover, the local trains, that have been ferrying only the essential workers, will now be accessible to employees of two types of private firms, namely, electricity companies and approved aircraft maintenance and repair firms.

The MSRTC has been ferrying an average of 21,500 passengers every day. The buses commute from places such as Virar, Vasai, Mira Road, Nallasopara and Palghar; 16 routes from Panvel and Vashi in Navi Mumbai, and 28 routes in the central region from places like Shahpur, Kalyan, Dombivali, Titwala, Kalwa, Thane and Badlapur.

Moreover, the MSRTC had earlier ferried over three lakh migrants up to the state borders and to various districts from the state borders since the first week of May. The biggest state road transport corporation of the country has a fleet of around 18,000 buses. The MSRTC had operated 1,200 buses and ferried 27,528 migrants, most of whom were on the way to Maharashtra's borders, heading for northern states. The MSRTC had offered them free bus ride up to the state borders.