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• There is no sign of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) starting the pilot project of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on Pune-Mumbai highway by December-end. Although the civic body had said that the pilot project will start operations by December-end, most of the related works are still incomplete.The civic body had begun widening the 12 km Pune-Mumbai highway stretch from Nigdi to Dapodi from four to eight lanes around four years ago. The widening of the 10 km stretch to 61 metres from Nigdi to Phugewadi has been completed. The two km stretch in Dapodi has been widened to 45 metres. This stretch cannot be widened to 61 metres as the civic body has not received possession of required defence land from the authorities.The civic body has developed four concrete lanes for non-stop traffic from Nigdi to Phugewadi but currently the vehicles can travel non-stop from Bhakti Shakti Chowk in Nigdi to Nashik Phata Chowk as there is a traffic signal at this chowk.
• Later, they can further travel non-stop from Nashik Phata Chowk to Phugewadi. There are two lane service roads on both sides of this concrete portion of the highway. One lane of the service road is for the BRTS buses while the other lane is for other vehicular traffic.The civic body had removed almost all bus shelters located on both sides of the highway due to which the commuters have had to brave the elements since past four years. The civic body had allotted the contract to put up 16 special bus shelters for the BRTS buses which is moving at a slow pace.The civic administration had earlier said the work of constructing the bus shelters will be completed in December and the pilot BRTS bus service will begin by the end of the month. The construction of bus shelters is, however, going on without following safety measures due to which an accident occurred claiming the life of one person in November.
• There was also a delay in the purchase of BRTS buses as there was dispute over whether the buses should have doors on left side or right side. The Pune Municipal Corporation insisted on purchasing buses having left side doors while Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body insisted on buses having doors on the right side. Hence, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) purchased some buses having doors on left side and some with doors on both sides.Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said, "The construction of around seven bus shelters has been completed. The work of construction the rest is in progress and would be completed soon. Bus service will be introduced on the highway after this work is completed."Hanumant Bhosale, opposition leader in the civic body, said, "There is a need for early introduction of BRTS bus service to provide quicker public transport to the 17 lakh population of the twin township. The civic body has been working on introducing the BRTS on the highway for the past four years but has failed to start it till now. Election code of conduct for the municipal elections is likely to come into force around the middle of this month, so the civic administration will have to hurry to start the bus service in this fortnight."

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