Aapli Bus carries 150 in 66-capacity vehicle, fined

Nagpur: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) fined an Aapli Bus for carrying 150 passengers in a vehicle whose capacity is 66

The overcrowded bus was caught by the flying squad of the RTO on the Wadi-Sitabuldi route, said an official from NMC’s transport department.

The RTO fined the driver under the Mother Vehicles Act, 1988 also recovered Rs31,000 fine from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

The incident has once again exposed that even after launching the Aapli Bus service from March 2017, the civic body is yet to streamline city transport.

The incident happened on March 11 when the team of RTO spotted the overcrowded Sitabuldi-bound bus in Wadi. The capacity of the bus was 66 which includes 44 seating and 22 standing passengers. The squad stopped the bus and counted the passengers. Though the RTO allowed the bus to move ahead, the team issued a challan to the bus driver.

TOI has been continuously highlighting the issue of city buses plying with excess passengers. On Monday, TOI visited many routes and found overcrowded buses plying on many routes including Sitabuldi-Defence-Wadi, Sitabuldi-Hingna, Sitabuldi-Kamptee and Sitabuldi-Pardi.

Passengers travelling on Wadi-Sitabuldi route demanded that the frequency of bus service in peak hours be increased to address the problem. Recently, the civic body curtailed operation of 36 Red buses on various routes citing low passenger numbers on many routes.

In the past too, NMC had taken similar decisions and reduced number of buses on Saturdays, Sundays and on holidays, citing closure of many offices and educational institutions.