With the growing number of women passengers on buses, the PMPML had decided to start ladies special buses and it was launched on International Womens' Day.
PUNE: The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has decided not to operate the newly introduced ladies special 'Tejaswini' buses on Sunday. The officials claim that operating these buses on Sunday leads to losses because there are fewer women passengers on this day. The decision was taken after a meeting held recently and the implementation of this will start from first Sunday of May.
All Tejaswini buses are Midi bus and the services are provided by the authority on eight routes with 218 trips.
Earlier, the services were started only on two routes. After a few weeks of starting, women passengers gave a good response. Many working women and students are travelling by these buses. During the period of March 8 to April 7, around 2.3 lakh women travelled in Tejaswini buses.
According to Dattatray Mane, Transport Manager, PMPML, on Sundays and public holidays, offices, schools and colleges were closed. Few offices are open on this day but not enough seats are occupied. The PMPML is not in a condition to bear the loss, he added.
"During Sundays and public holidays, the response from women to Tejaswini buses is very low. Hence, it has been decided to stop the service on every Sunday. This will be implemented from the first week of May,'' said Dattatray Mane, Transport Manager, PMPML.