No buses for Ambad at noon, students lament

NASHIK: Students from Ambad village, Pathardi Phata, Rane Nagar and adjoining areas, who are pursuing their studies in various colleges across Nashik city, are a harassed lot.
The unavailability of buses, especially between 11am and 1pm, from Nashik city to their areas of residence has left them in the lurch.
Such is the state of affairs that many of these students have stopped seeking bus passes as they have to wait for hours altogether to board a bus.Even if they do, there is seldom space for them to stand inside, forget about occupying a seat.
"Firstly, there are hardly any buses and if one arrives, that too is packed to capacity. We wait at Ravivar Karanja bus stop for hours altogether, but to no avail. This entire process not only costs us time but also mental peace," Akanksha Valavdekar of Rane Nagar, a student of KTHM College, said.
The girl students reach the bus stop around 11.30am. However, they have to wait for the bus till 12.45pm. "There are other buses like the ones going to Satpur and other areas which are literally empty. But there is hardly any bus to Ambad villlage route where the demand is high. One cannot hire an autorickshaw since it is quite costly," Ragini Salvi, another student, said.
She said she has not availed the facility of monthly bus pass over the last two months. "Why to keep a bus pass when there are no buses. Instead, I can take up a rickshaw and reach home in 20 minutes, which is better than waiting for the bus for almost two hours."
If a bus is packed, it is not for Ambad, students have started joking about it. "It is very easy to identify Ambad-bound buses. Firstly, they do not stop at the designated stand at the bus stop and second they are fully packed," Sandesh Brahme, a resident of the Ashwin Nagar, said.
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) officials, however, said they were unable to add the buses on the route due to lack of additional buses in the fleet.
"We cannot add more buses to the route since we hardly have any in spare. We have only 193 buses and they too are reeling under huge losses on city roads. We operate buses intra-district and inter-district and we have obligatory services as well. But the city bus transport is actually the bane for us. We are only continuing it because the local corporation is unwilling to take over the service," they said.
On the part of buses being released for passengers, an official from Panchavati Depot said there were three buses for Ambad - 11am, 11.40am and 1pm and there were no complaints about them. "There are no demands for the buses for Ambad, except that there was a letter from somebody about a month ago. There has to be a formidable demand for more buses. We will, however, take a look and try to start a bus after 11.50am for students," he said.