23 May,2011 06:52 AM IST | | Parth Satam
Electrical points for mobiles and laptops don't work in many A-C buses of MSRTC
IF you are travelling in a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Shivneri Volvo bus and urgently want to recharge your cell phone battery, do not expect the electrical charging ports below the seats to work all the time.
While you pay Rs 270 for the widely used bus service to Mumbai, MiD DAY has discovered that facilities like electrical charging points do not work in several of the Volvo buses.
Shivneri buses have electrical points under the seats to recharge batteries, but these often are of no use
These buses are the ones which have been leased by the MSRTC from private bus operators and the three-pin ports in them do not work when a charging device is connected.
MiD DAY inspected one such bus (MH-04-G-6904) at Pune station bus depot and tested it by connecting a cell phone charger, but it did not work.
Shivajinagar bus depot manager V A Patil said that the charging points have not been working right from the very beginning.
"They did function till some time, but developed problems later because of overuse or less power discharge from the vehicle battery. The two new multi-axle Volvo Ashwamedh bus services introduced two months ago have perfectly working ports, but all the buses do not," said Patil.
Swargate depot manager Vijay Kumar Divate also admitted that the ports have been non-functional.
"These are the two or three buses that were purchased last year that came with the points, but for some reason they don't work.
They are maintained by the Volvo company itself, with which the corporation has a maintenance contract. We will surely take corrective measures if passengers approach us with complaints," said Divate.
The Shivneri service has a lot of improving to do, ranging from maintaining cleanliness in buses to enhanced security at the depots; the second issue has already been widely reported by MiD DAY.
Long, serpentine queues at Pune station depot during peak hours is another problem.
Commuters who want to book tickets on the spot go through a harrowing time because of there being just one ticket counter. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, queues can be seen stretching till the depot entrance.
