Student misses US flight after bus breaks down
Harrowing 8-hour ordeal for passengers as Mumbai-bound Neeta Travels Volvo bus cops it in Pune, its replacement as well.
On Monday afternoon, Vidya Vihar resident Zainab Doctor’s thoughts were mostly on her flight to the US at 11 pm from Mumbai, rather than the Neeta Travels bus she was waiting for near Pune station. Little did she know that she would never make it in time to Mumbai airport, as the bus and its replacement both broke down on the way.
Zainab, 23, had gained admission to an MBA course in Dallas after her Bachelors in Banking and Insurance, and was in Pune with her mother, Shireen Bookwala, to meet her aunt before leaving for Dallas.
The bus finally departed at 5.30 pm, but broke down at Bopodi on the old Pune-Mumbai highway. Neeta Travels sent a replacement bus, which turned up after a 40-minute wait. This bus, she added, was held up at Khadki by travel agents for over 30 minutes.
When the bus stopped at Kusegaon around 9 pm to refuel, the AC unit stopped working. “Passengers protested against the stifling heat, and we were getting frantic as I had to reach our Vidya Vihar residence, where my brother was waiting with the luggage. Another Neeta bus that was passing by stopped. It had three seats free, so my mother and I were put on it. However, it got stuck in heavy traffic. I finally reached home at 12.45 am, nearly two hours after my flight to the US had departed,” said Zainab, who says she lost Rs 50,000 on the ticket.
It was just as harrowing for their copasssengers. Priyanka Arora, a citybased IT professional, said, “We were shocked on being told that the bus was cancelled, and passengers will be refunded the ticket cost.”
“The government-run Shivneri buses were packed, so we opted for this private operator. We finally thought all our troubles were over and we would reach Mumbai soon, but the AC stopped working just before Lonavala near Kusegaon toll naka around 9 pm, when the bus halted for refueling. It was unbearable. We nearly suffocated, travelling in that packed bus for two hours,” said Gia Pereira, a public relations professional who was travelling with her children. Pereira said she reached her residence in Bandra around midnight.
She added that there was no provision for the passengers to complain. “I searched online and found there were several complaints against Neeta Travels. A system needs to be set up where the government transport department can intervene when passengers complain against private operators,” she said.
A private transport operator, who declined to be named, said many luxury bus operators were finding it difficult to maintain their fleets due to fall in passenger numbers. “The average number of passengers is reducing, except for peak periods and profits are low,” he said.
There was no response from Neeta Travels despite several attempts by Mirror to contact the travel operator.
On Monday afternoon, Vidya Vihar resident Zainab Doctor’s thoughts were mostly on her flight to the US at 11 pm from Mumbai, rather than the Neeta Travels bus she was waiting for near Pune station. Little did she know that she would never make it in time to Mumbai airport, as the bus and its replacement both broke down on the way.
Zainab, 23, had gained admission to an MBA course in Dallas after her Bachelors in Banking and Insurance, and was in Pune with her mother, Shireen Bookwala, to meet her aunt before leaving for Dallas.
“The bus was to depart for Mumbai at 4 pm from Pune station, but we were told it had been cancelled. Everyone booked on that bus refused a refund, so Neeta Travels gave us seats on the 5 pm bus,” Zainab said.
The bus finally departed at 5.30 pm, but broke down at Bopodi on the old Pune-Mumbai highway. Neeta Travels sent a replacement bus, which turned up after a 40-minute wait. This bus, she added, was held up at Khadki by travel agents for over 30 minutes.
When the bus stopped at Kusegaon around 9 pm to refuel, the AC unit stopped working. “Passengers protested against the stifling heat, and we were getting frantic as I had to reach our Vidya Vihar residence, where my brother was waiting with the luggage. Another Neeta bus that was passing by stopped. It had three seats free, so my mother and I were put on it. However, it got stuck in heavy traffic. I finally reached home at 12.45 am, nearly two hours after my flight to the US had departed,” said Zainab, who says she lost Rs 50,000 on the ticket.
It was just as harrowing for their copasssengers. Priyanka Arora, a citybased IT professional, said, “We were shocked on being told that the bus was cancelled, and passengers will be refunded the ticket cost.”
“The government-run Shivneri buses were packed, so we opted for this private operator. We finally thought all our troubles were over and we would reach Mumbai soon, but the AC stopped working just before Lonavala near Kusegaon toll naka around 9 pm, when the bus halted for refueling. It was unbearable. We nearly suffocated, travelling in that packed bus for two hours,” said Gia Pereira, a public relations professional who was travelling with her children. Pereira said she reached her residence in Bandra around midnight.
She added that there was no provision for the passengers to complain. “I searched online and found there were several complaints against Neeta Travels. A system needs to be set up where the government transport department can intervene when passengers complain against private operators,” she said.
A private transport operator, who declined to be named, said many luxury bus operators were finding it difficult to maintain their fleets due to fall in passenger numbers. “The average number of passengers is reducing, except for peak periods and profits are low,” he said.
There was no response from Neeta Travels despite several attempts by Mirror to contact the travel operator.
