Why Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses appeal to you by Puneet Rajhans

Why MSRTC buses appeal to you

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses have been ferrying passengers for long. Meant for the common man, the distances they have covered and commuters they have ferried are worth taking note of. In the heat and dust of the State they have performed with a sense of certainty and dignity. Certainty for the fact that commuters have reached their destinations on time and dignity on account of the dignified nature of the driver-conductor duo, with the co-passengers equally sombre and dignified.
As i took the MSRTC bus from A'gar to Mumbai, the halts were few and no dislocation to any body parts. In the heat of May Summer, nothing prevented me from boarding this one as i knew that i would be in the city in the nick of time before lodgewallahs shut their doors. As against this, the private buswallahs drive at will and the destination is reached when half of the city is on a sleeping mode. The fare at Rs 267, the commute took less than five-and-a-half hours. The first halt happened to be at Nashik, where those bound for places apart from Mumbai got down with little accretion to the earnings of the bus as fewer got in. In the Green View hotel, the stoppage was for half an hour for meals to be tried and add necessary fluids to your body. There are few injured cows which can be sighted and it would do a world of good to you if you could take care of their feeding habits. Perhaps if some medico going through this area could attend to the injured cows would be the best thing to happen.
Post Green View halt, the bus moves at breakneck speed and here you need to compliment the driver for saving the lives of two bikers who appeared from nowhere to almost have a head on collision with the bus. The driver was alert and thus the tragedy was averted. As the machine entered the city the hullabaloo was quite evident with most in a frenzy pace to reach their destination. You glide within the city, thanks to a host of flyovers that have come up and from Thane to your final destination it takes barely 40 minutes.
Though the accommodation has been an issue for commoners like us for long, it is not something that has erupted now. In the 90s as well, the accommodation issue continued to fuel the desire to stay for a minimum time and latch on to any mode of transport moving out of city. This time when i had to deboard the train at Dadar, the first point of search was for a bus. Failing at that i enquired about other trains and here i discovered the possibility of boarding was next to nil. Seeing no easy exit and the thought of staying for another night at a lodge looking nightmarish, it took me to vile parle route where the commute by bus wasn't lengthy but surely troublesome given the luggage i was carrying. Some even resented my idea of carrying luggage when there is not enough space for passengers.

At vile parle east as i deboarded the commotion of those getting in and out led some passengers to lose their their sleepers and to collect them they made hasty exit from the bus. Only at the airport i realised that the agent had charged a hefty fee and this i could have easily avoided had i taken the ticket from the counter. The air conditioning inside is more than effective and perhaps they can save on power consumption by making it work at a required level.
As for the city i got down next and the accommodation hassles i faced till 3 in the morning i was prepared for given the unplanned exit i had to make from the train and settle for a ticket that was beyond my imagination. Perhaps some day i would be able to settle my accommodation hassles if i search for simple and reasonable accommodation for a day or two in Mumbai. Perhaps staying in lees than 500 accommodation (common bathroom)has its side effects as the person at the counter reminds you time and again that the check out time is 12 noon. It is his greed on the directions of his owners that is making him send such reminders because had someone taken accommodation upwards 1000 Rs, he would have been given a grace period of 2 to 3 hours. The grace that you least expect from lodgewallahs and yet dignified is your exit given the magical touch the city flows with.