Pune: MSRTC’s Pune division would operate around 50 additional buses to accommodate travellers heading out of the city for the three-day holiday weekend starting Friday, as intercity trains between Pune and Mumbai were fully booked till Sunday.“We normally operate around 200 buses daily to various cities and increase the number to manage the heavy passenger rush this weekend. We’ll potentially increase services between Pune and Mumbai if needed,” Arun Siya, MSRTC’s Pune divisional controller, told TOI.Intercity trains between Pune and Mumbai are fully booked or have long waitlists with Deccan Queen’s second-class chair car showing a waitlist of 115 for Friday, 81 for Saturday, and 88 for Sunday. Other inter-city trains have similar waitlists or no available seats. “Instructions have been issued to the Pune railway station staff to be alert and do the needful to manage crowd on the premises,” a senior railway official said.Balasaheb Khedekar, the President of the Pune Luxury Bus Association, said there were 400-500 buses going to different cities in and outside the state each day, and a majority of them were booked. “If we see heavy demand, we might look at increasing buses on some routes. Bus operators have been told not to overcharge passengers,” he said.Pune RTO officials said teams were keeping a close watch. “Overcharging has been an issue, but our teams are on the field. People can file a complaint with us in case of overcharging, and we will look into it,” a senior RTO official said.Flyers told to report early at airportPune airport officials have advised domestic flyers to arrive at least 3 hours and international flyers at least 4 hours before their flights in view of heightened security measures for Independence Day. The officials warned of potential longer wait times during check-in and security checks and told passengers to have IDs and tickets ready for quick verification.
