Dinesh Kamath's news item 'NMMT buses are expected to function smoothly this monsoon' that was published in Newsband

NMMT buses are expected to function smoothly this monsoon

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) has signed up an annual maintenance contract (AMC) with Ashok Leyland. This company will look after the maintenance of 90 percent of the buses. It will be responsible for the fitness of these buses. If anything goes wrong with the buses, NMMT can now afford to put the blame on this company.

This company will also look after the fitness of the 120 new buses purchased by NMMT under JNNURM scheme. The NMMT officials were asked to explain for the non-fitness of certain buses in the past. NMMT blamed the company for poor design of the buses. But the company attributed the breakdown of these buses to poor roads. The company said that there was nothing wrong in the way the buses were designed. They blamed the roads which are full of potholes and in extremely bad shape.

AMC is the best thing that NMMT authorities have done since now their vehicles will not have to spend idle time at the depots. Previously whenever the buses would get damaged they would be kept for a long time in the depot for repairing purpose. But now that AMC has been signed such a thing will not happen and hence commuters can expect best service from NMMT and also NMMT can be sure of earning a big revenue.

AMC has been signed just at the right time when the monsoon is round the corner. So the residents of Navi Mumbai can expect smooth functioning of NMMT buses during the rainy season.

After the signing of AMC, NMMT can now expect to regain the confidence of the commuters who earlier would feel harassed by the poor functioning of NMMT buses. There were times when the buses would be cancelled or the buses would suddenly stop in the middle of the journey due to machine break down. The passengers would then have to get down from the buses and try for another vehicle to reach their destination. They would find themselves stranded at one place for a long time and also they had to shell out money for the ticket once again when they caught another bus. So the poor functioning of NMMT buses would result in waste of valuable time and money and great harassment for the bus commuters.

But now that AMC has been signed with Ashok Leyland, the company will take the responsibility of ensuring the smooth functioning of most of the NMMT buses. So it is hoped that commuters of NMMT buses will not have to suffer like in the past and even NMMT authorities might not have to face the wrath and fury of NMMT bus commuters every now and then.

A regular commuter of the NMMT bus was heard saying that it was not enough just to ensure the fitness of the buses but it is also necessary that the roads on which these buses run are also repaired and well maintained by the civic body. What is the use of well-maintained buses if the roads are not properly maintained, he asked. He has a point there and it is hoped that NMMC authorities will do their bit in the matter of maintaining the roads in the city. Good roads and good buses will mean great relief for commuters of the city and also it will fetch big revenue to NMMT.