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.

Connecting Maharashtra - 7

Here is another installment in the Connecting Maharashtra series.

Mandangad - Shirdi and Shirdi - Mahur buses. Mandangad is in Ratnagiri district, very close to the Harnai coast while Mahur is at far end of Nanded district, near Andhra Pradesh border.

Just one change of bus and you reach from one end of our gigantic state to the other!

Saquib sawant and Ram Kinhikar, thanks for letting me borrow the pictures from flicker, although I never asked!

एसटी होणार 'डिझायनर'_article in Maharashtra Times

एसटी ही 'लाल डब्याचीच, ही इमेज सहा दशकांनंतरही कायम आहे. पण, आता एसटीचा चेहरामोहरा बदलून अधिक आकर्षक बनवला जाणार आहे. 'आयआयटी-मुंबई'च्या इंजिनीअरांच्या मदतीने बसेस 'एरोडायनॅमिक' करण्याची योजना एसटीने आखली आहे. त्यामुळे बसेसचा 'लुक' बदलेलच इंधनातही बचत होईल.

एसटी मंगळवारी ६३ व्या वर्षांत पदार्पण करत आहे. प्रवास अधिक सुरक्षित आणि आरामदायी बनवण्यासाठी एसटीने ही योजना राबवण्याचे ठरवले आहे. त्यावर आयआयटीचे इंजिनीअर अभ्यास करत असून ऑक्टोबरपर्यंत त्यांचा अहवाल एसटीला मिळेल. त्यानंतर बोर्डाची मंजुरी घेऊन टेंडर प्रक्रिया सुरू होईल, असे महामंडळाचे एमडी दीपक कपूर यांंनी सांगितले. महामंडळाच्या ताफ्यात सुमारे ८५ टक्के बसेस 'परिवर्तन' मॉडेलच्या आहेत. त्यांचा चेहरा प्रथम बदलला जाईल. मग, सेमीलक्झरी एरोडायनॅमिक होईल, अशी माहिती कपूर यांनी दिली. बस बांधणीत अॅल्युमिनियमऐवजी 'माइल्ड स्टील'चा वापर करण्याची योजना आहे. त्याचा अभ्यासही आयआयटी मुंबई करत आहे. अॅल्युमिनियम वजनाला हलके असल्याने बसचे वजन कमी होऊन डिझेलचे 'अॅव्हरेज' वाढू शकेल. पण, अपघात झाला तर अशी बस कापली जाते. अनेकदा समोरासमोर टक्कर होते. अशा अपघातात प्राणहानी वाढते. मजबुतीसाठी माइल्ट स्टीलचा वापर केला जाईल. त्यामुळे बसचे वजन वाढून डिझेलचे 'अॅव्हरेज' कमी होईल. उपाय म्हणून बसच्या पुढील भागासाठी 'माइल्ड स्टील'चा वापर केला जाईल.

Alert bus conductor saved 44 lives

Alertness shown by a woman bus conductor saved the lives of 44 passengers on the MSRTC’s King Long bus, which caught fire on Airoli bridge on Saturday night.

As the bus was speeding down the round around 8.30 pm, conductor Sheetal Chimote saw smoke coming out of the rear of the vehicle and she signalled the driver, Riyaz Shaikh, to stop. “She yelled and the driver brought the bus to a screeching halt,’’ said an MSRTC official. “She then rushed all passengers out and at the same time, ensured that their luggage was taken out of the hold. Asking the passengers to stand at a distance, Shaikh went to the back to inspect what exactly had happened and found out that the bus had caught fire.’’ Within minutes, the entire bus was engulfed in flames.

“Had the conductor delayed for a few more minutes, the passengers would have been charred to death. We really appreciate her presence of mind when she noticed the smoke,’’ a senior MSRTC officer said, adding that the department planned to felicitate Chimote.

The Airoli police, who are inquiring into the accident, have taken down Chimote’s statement. According to her, the bus had left Pune depot at 4.30 pm and was scheduled to reach Thane by 9 pm. “Almost all the passengers were supposed to get down at the last stop,’’ Chimote said.

The MSRTC, too, has deployed its technical team to ascertain the cause of the fire. Preliminary inquiry revealed that short circuit had caused the blaze, but a final report will be presented before MSRTC vice-chairman and managing director Deepak Kapoor in a couple of days.

Following the incident, Kapoor ordered withdrawal of all 15 King Long buses from the road. However, because of the passenger rush on Sunday morning due to Akshaya Tritaya, the MSRTC ran a few of the vehicles to ferry commuters between Pune and Mumbai. “The buses were running packed on Sunday and passengers had reserved seats well in advance. But from Monday, we will not run King Longs anymore,’’ Kapoor said. He stated that the corporation would replace those buses with 10 brand new semi-luxury buses, which were procured from Goa recently.

“Those who have reserved seats on King Long buses for the next few weeks can travel by the new semiluxury buses. They will get a refund on the difference in fares and those wanting to cancel tickets can claim a full refund,’’ he said. Of the 15 King Longs, seven operated between Thane and Pune, while the remaining eight were on the Dadar-Pune route. The corporation recently bought 25 new semi-luxury buses from Goa of which 10 have replaced the King Longs.

ST drivers’ wives get gifts, cash for mishap-free rides

Mumbai: ‘Behind every successful man, there is a woman’—the MSRTC has used this cliched saying to its advantage. In the past two years, 223 wives of state transport (ST) drivers were felicitated with sarees, gifts and cash for their husbands’ “accident-free’’ driving. The transport corporation claims that the scheme has brought down the number of accident cases to some extent.
“We had identified drivers who had a clean record of not being involved in accidents for several years. We not only gave them commendatory notes, but also honoured their wives with sarees, token gifts and Rs 7,000 for the family,’’ said a MSRTC spokesperson. He said the corporation’s initiative was such a hit with drivers that it sent a message to all ST drivers to drive carefully. “Who would not want to get felicitated in the presence of family members? And who would not want his better half to be rewarded for his personal achievement?’’ the spokesperson said.
Statistics provided by MSRTC showed that in 2007-08, there were 3,450 accidents while the ST buses had covered
a distance of 179 crore km. The number of accidents came down to 3,220 while ST buses covered more distance of 181 crore km in 2008-09. Of the total number of accidents, the number of major accidents was 2,363 in 2007-08 and this dropped to 1,977 cases in 2008-09. The average number of major accidents per year prior to 2007 had never fallen below the 2,000-mark. “The corporation also had to pay Rs 2 crore less in compensation to accident victims in 2008-09 as compared to the previous year,’’ an ST official said.
The number of passengers ferried were 224 crore in 2007-08 which rose to 240 crore passengers in 2008-09. “The safety of our passengers is very important. We are also conducting sensitisation programmes for drivers, urging them not to drive rashly even if there is no vehicle in sight. We also train our drivers to maintain road discipline and not to misbehave with any passenger,’’ the spokesperson stated.
The ST’s toll-free helpline (1800-22-1250), introduced in the recent past, has also helped passengers get emergency medical aid in case of accidents. “Our control room informs the nearby hospital and arranges for emergency treatment,’’ said a senior official.
published in Times of India

MSRTC to roll out AC sleeper buses on long-distance routes

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC)—whose fleet has evolved from the red-and-yellow ordinary ST buses to hi-tech ones including 88 AC Volvo services—now plans to introduce sleeper air-conditioned (AC) coaches for long-distance routes.
Sources in the state transport body said that plans were afoot to introduce the AC sleeper Volvos for Goa—a destination for which the MSRTC had received tremendous response recently.
“Last month, we launched the Volvo service with a seating capacity of 45 for the Mumbai-Panjim route. Our buses are nearly packed for all of May and only a handful of seats are available for the summer season,’’ said a senior MSRTC official, adding that there was a demand to introduce sleeper coaches on long-distance routes. “We would soon be including such buses in our fleet,’’ he said, while refusing to elaborate further.
Of the 88 services across the state, more than 50% of these hi-tech Volvo buses ply the Mumbai-Pune route. The MSRTC had recently launched new Volvo services on other routes such as Pune-Nanded, Pune-Jalgaon, Pune-Sangli and Pune-Kolhapur.
“We provide newspapers and drinking water in our Volvo buses. To ensure the safety of our passengers, we have been creating awareness about the dangers of accepting food or drinks from strangers during the journey or at scheduled halts,’’ the official said. “Our campaign has been successful. Of late, we haven’t come across cases of passengers being administered stupefying drugs and robbed while travelling in our Volvos,” the official added.
Besides the Volvos, the corporation also wants to upgrade its “Parivartan” ordinary buses by providing more comfortable seats to passengers. At least five Parivartan buses are replacing the old ST buses daily. The new buses have single windshield, polyurethane seats with seating arrangement of 2X2 instead of the conventional 2X3, good leg space and polymer paint.
Published in Times of India

Inter State Routes-3

Poladpur-Thane-Ahmedabad

Thane-Karwar 557KM @ Thane
Panvel, Swargate, Satara, Karad, Kolhapur, Belgaon,Haliyal,Yellapur
Shivajinagar - Baroda 612KM @ Baroda
Narayangaon, Sangamner, Nashik, Peth, Balsad, Navsari,Surat

Photo By Free and Footloose

Thane-Belgaum 480km @ Thane
Panvel, Swargate, Satara, Karad, Kolhapur, Belgaon
Bhivandi - Hyderabad 775KM @ Thane
Thane, Panvel, Swargate, Indapur, Solapur, Omerga, Humanabad, Zahirabad
Hyderabad - Amravati 522KM @Yavatmal
Kamareddy, Armoor, Nirmal, Ichoda, Adilabad, Bori, Pandharkawada, Umri, Jodmoha, Yavatmal, Ner, Nandgaokhandeshwar, Badnera

MSRTC MEDIUM-LONG HAUL ROUTE

Arnala-Solapur 468KM @Thane(vandana)
Virar,Thane,Panvel, Lonavala, Swargate, Yavat, Choufula, Bhigavan, Indapur, Tembhurni, Modlimb, Mohol

Bhainder - Kavathemahankal 462KM @Thane(vandana)
Thane, Panvel, Khopoli, Lonavala, Vallabhnagar, Swargate, Shirval, Pargaonkhandala, Pachwad, Bhuinj, Satara, Kashil, Umbraj, Karad, Kadepur, Vita, Khanapur, Bhivaghat, Vayfale, Savlaj, Dongarsoni, Kun

Borivali - Omerga 546KM @Thane(vandana)
Thane, Lonavala, Swargate, Tembhurni, Kurduwadi, Barshi, Tuljapur, Lohara

Borivali - Miraj 426KM @Thane(vandana)

Thane, Panvel,Swargate, Satara, Karad, Islampur, Ashta, Sangli

Sahapur-Pandharpur 432KM @Thane(vandana)

Bhivandi, Thane, Panvel, Khopoli, Lonavala, Swargate, Saswad, Jejuri, Phaltan, Natepute, Malshiras

Palghar-Miraj 504KM @Thane(vandana)

Wada, Bhivandi, Thane, Panvel,Swargate, Satara, Karad, Islampur, Sangli

Borivali-Tasgaon 408KM @Thane(vandana)

Thane, Panvel, Khopoli, Lonavala, Chinchwad, Swargate, Satara, Karad, Takari, Kundal, Palus

Kolhapur - Boisar 510KM @ Thane(vandana)

Wada, Bhivandi, Thane, Panvel, Lonavala, Pimprichinchwad, Swargate, Satara, Karad

Nalasopara-Kolhapur 470KM @ Thane

Thane, Panvel, Lonavala, Pimprichinchwad, Swargate, Satara, Karad

Solapur - Nashik 420KM @ Sangamner

Mohol, Modlimb, Tembhurni, Karmala, Mirajgaon, Ahmednagar, Rahuri, Kolhar, Sangamner, Sinnar

thanks to Mr Saqib Sawant.

Miraj - Nashik 470KM @ Sangamner

Sangli, Ashta, Islampur, Karad, Satara, Swargate, Shivajinagar, Rajgurunagar, Narayangaon, Sangamner

thanks to Mr Saqib Sawant.

Alibag - Miraj 357 KM @ Karad

Pen, Khopoli, Lonavala, Chinchwad, Swargate, Satara, Karad, Islampur, Ashta, Sangli

Aheri - Shirdi 890KM @ Aurangabad CIDCO

Allapalli, Gondpipari, Ballarpur, Chandrapur, Bhadrawati, Warora, Jam, Hinganghat, Wardha, Pulgoan, Chandur-Rly, Amaravati, Murtijapur, Akola, Belapur, Khamgaon, Chikhali, Jalna, Aurangabad, Nevasa

Nagpur - Nanded 385KM @Nagpur CBS

Wardha, Devali, Yavatmal, Darvha, Digras, Pusad, Umarkhed, Hadgaon

Sakoli - Aurangabad 618 KM,@Nagpur

Lakhani, Bhandara, Petrolpamp, Nagpur, Kondhali, Talegaon, Amaravati, Murtijapur, Akola, Khamgaon, Chikhali, Jalna

A Day at Vandana Bus Stand.

( Photos By Ajinkya)

Vandana- Bus Stand Thane

A very busy bus stand in thane. Mostly Buses plying on the Pune-Satara-Kolhapur route

use this bus stand. It is hardly 5 min distance by Auto from Central Bus Stand in khopat.

 

Luxury Coaches by MSRTC branded as 'Shivneri'.

 

 

 

 

New Violet look

 

Semi-luxury buses popularly known as the 'Asiad'

 

 

Old Style!

 

 

 

 

 

Common ST buses