Connecting Maharashtra - 8

Continuing the Connecting Maharashtra series where I try to show how Lal Dabba takes you from one end of the state to another with just one change of bus.

Some such routes of which I have already uploaded pictures are:

Kankavali - Latur and Latur - Nagpur
Alibag - Aurangabad and Aurangabad - Sakoli
Mandangad - Shirdi and Shirdi - Mahur
Chandrapur - Latur and Latur - Kolhapur
etc


Here is one more such connection

Chandrapur - Shegaon and Shegaon - Kurla (Mumbai)

Chandrapur is at the eastern extreme while Mumbai is on the western extreme of Maharashtra.

I have borrowed the second picture from an unknown contributor of MSRTC Flickr album (without permission of course!!)

After an interesting exchange of comments, I learnt that the name of the "unknown contributor" is Chaitanya Railkar! Thank you Sir! :)



MSRTC really rocks !!

`आमची येश्टि-1 '

A MSRTC tanker

A Break-down van.

A bell hanging in a temple inside a bus Depot

 Take a closer look at the clapper. It is made of a nut and bolt weld together :) 

A Designer MSRTC bus. You will find customly designed buses of this kind in almost every depots across Maharashtra. The artisan often goes unnoticed.

Every MSRTC bus bears a acronym and a name on the rear side as well as on the passenger-door side. The single bold letter denotes  the division and the name below denotes the depot where it belongs. In this case bold 'र' stands for division Ratnagiri and below depot too is Ratnagiri

Assorted from my backup

"Punyaachi Mainaa" was written at the back of a bus heading towards Swargate...captured in Tamhini Ghat.

Swargate - DiveAagar captured in Tamhini Ghat!!!

Two Laal Dabbaas seen near Mulshi, both are from Roha, Konkan.

"Sujal Maharashtra - Nirmal Maharashtra" was heading to Talegaav (Pune), captured in Tamhini Ghat near Mulshi, Pune district. The red 'Parivartan bus' seen approaching was traveling from Ahmednagar to Dapoli.

Phased out Asiad buses ply on many city routes. I was traveling in One of such bus from Miraj station to Sangli stand for whcih the fare is Rs.12/- and it takes almost 30 minutes to reach. It is a nightmare traveling in these buses at night, as such buses are fitted with the dim yellow lights.

MSRTC's City service on Nashik CBS (Central Bus Stand) to Paandavleni route. Recently these buses have started and getting good response from locals. Good to see ST finally decided to purchase new buses for its city routes.

Pimpri Depot in Pune district. This depot where major repairing takes place, is considered a small time bus station in terms of passenger traffic. All TATA buses were resting inside the "Karyashala". I don't know whether these clothes belong to anyone related to ST. However it shows the sleepiness and relaxed atmosphere inside the depot.

Many 'other' state's buses take nap in this depot as there is lot of space and less passenger traffic.

In a village called 'Kashti' in Ahmednagar district, a weekly cattle fair is held. People flock from nearby villages and small towns flock to this fair every Saturday. One such Mahindra pickup had something wonderful at the backside!!!

I can understand mention of a "Maaji Swaatantrya Sainik" but this one was hilarious!

Padel is a small village near Devgad. This entire belt is famous for the Great Alphonso mangoes. However there is a place, rather a junction near Padel village where there used to be a canteen. Since then that place became one of the happening places to hang out for locals. And it is still called as Padel canteen.

ST has one extension booking counter as seen in the picture on the roadside.

While I was in rickshaw waiting for my driver to return, (on the way to Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra), I saw this beauty departed for Borivali from Vijaydurg depot.