Pune: PMPML buses are potentially exposed to vandalism and theft as nearly 125 buses from the overall fleet are consistently scrambling for parking across the city. This is despite the authorities setting up 17 bus depots, and with the Charholi depot established just last year.On Saturday, a visibly ‘disturbed’ youth, as per the police, hailing from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, slipped into an empty PMPML bus, started the vehicle with the ignition key left inside the vehicle and drove through crowded streets for around 1.5km from Dengle Bridge to Goodluck Chowk. He drove in the wrong direction, an eyewitness had told TOI.Activists labelled the incident a result of the casual attitude of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) towards providing basic infrastructure. They have demanded that the transport body immediately look for ways to ensure that all buses have secure parking space.Sources in the transport body said the buses parked in front of the PMC headquarters are allocated to the Natawadi depot. “It is a small depot and 50 PMPML-owned buses are parked there. The rest of the buses belong to a private contractor, and have to be parked outside due to space constraints. They are mainly parked on the road for a few hours from 12am to 4am, after which trips start again. All buses are locked, and guards keep an eye on them. The incident on Saturday was, however, an exception and can be called a result of carelessness,” said an official, requesting anonymity.“PMPML repeatedly gets into these dangerous and embarrassing situations exposing their unserious attitude. With just a little more than 1,900 buses at present, PMPML doesn’t have space. And they are talking about bringing in 2,000 more. Have they decided about parking space for them? Has any planning pertaining to this been done so far?” asked Sanjay Shitole, a PMP Pravasi Manch activist and commuter.In a conversation with TOI, PMPML CMD Mahesh Awhad accepted that parking space is a constraint and added that work on it is underway. “By year-end, PMPML will get around 2,000 more buses. We have asked PMC for 24 land parcels, PCMC for 11 land parcels and the Pune collector’s office for seven land parcels. Also, two land parcels have been requested from MIDC and three plots of land from PMRDA. Letters have been sent to all, and we are positive that we will get the land to be able to remove infrastructural constraints,” he said.Sagar Dhaage, a resident of Camp and daily commuter, said, “Every evening, I pass through the road leading from Congress Bhavan to Dengle Bridge, and these buses parked along the route are a major nuisance. They create serious traffic problems due to haphazard parking.”“Moreover, many of these buses have their doors and windows open during late evening hours. Anyone can get inside and steal batteries or machine parts easily. It is strange that even after so many years, PMPML has not been able to find a solution to this issue. Saturday’s incident was scary and anything could have happened,” he added.In 2023, two similar incidents had taken place during the tenure of then-PMPML CMD Om Prakash Bakoria. In one of the incidents, a man had stolen a bus from Bhosari BRTS terminal and driven it for 5km before being intercepted. Following this, PMPML had served a notice to the private contractor and brought in a system of keys to start the buses. Before that, buses had a button-start ignition.
