The one-way fare has been fixed at Rs 1,300. The 44-seater sleeper class bus will leave the Ganeshpeth Bus Stand at 9 pm and reach Shirdi at 5.30 am. The same bus will leave Shirdi at 9 pm and reach Nagpur the next day.
Nagpur: A day after Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Mahamarg was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to launch a direct bus service between Nagpur-Shirdi from December 15. The 520-km highway was opened for traffic on Sunday.
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According to media reports, the 44-seater sleeper class bus will leave the Ganeshpeth Bus Stand at 9 pm and reach Shirdi at 5.30 am. The same bus will leave Shirdi at 9 pm and reach Nagpur the next day. This is MSRTC’s first bus service via the new expressway. There will be two drivers and conductors. The one-way fare has been pegged at Rs1,300. As per the scheme, senior citizens above 75 years can avail of the benefit of free travel while those above 65 years will get a 50% discount on fares, the reports added.
The traditional route via Amravati-Akola-Khamgaon-Chikhali-Jalna-Aurangabad-Ahmednagar and Shirdi takes 13 hours. Now the travel time will be cut by nearly five hours and prove beneficial for devotees travelling to Shirdi for darshan, said the reports.
The MSRTC draws more passengers from roadside stations. However, Samruddhi is an elevated highway that bypasses all the cities. It will defeat the very purpose of the ST to offer service to all. Secondly, the fare of private buses is less than ST buses. It is difficult to predict whether it will be viable or not, said a section of MSRTC employees.
Meanwhile, even as MSRTC is the first to jump on the bandwagon, private bus operators are cautious about putting buses through the Samruddhi Mahamarg. “We will have to pay Rs 5.80 per km toll tax on the expressway. Currently, we pay Rs 1,200 toll (to & fro) for Aurangabad and Rs 2,800 for Pune. On Samruddhi we will end up paying an additional Rs 4,000. For Shirdi it will cost Rs 6,000,” said Mahendra Luley, President, Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI), Maharashtra, while talking to a local media.
“The private bus operators opt for the shortest routes and there are many openings near the cities bypassing the expressway. We are still exploring where to enter the highway. We have clientele in cities too and if we divert towards cities to pick up passengers, the purpose of a speedy journey through Samruddhi will be defeated,” said Luley.
