The Story of Pimpri-Chinchwad's Bus Fleet Before PMPML
Looking at the data visualization above, we can trace PCMT's journey from 1995 to 2007.
The most striking aspect is how PCMT managed its fleet efficiency. In 1995-96, with 248 buses in total, they kept 158 on the road daily serving about 130,000 passengers. Fast forward to 2006-07, they were operating with a smaller fleet of 212 buses but maintained 160 buses on the road - a notable improvement in fleet utilization from 63.7% to 75.5%.
The Merger and Birth of PMPML
On 15 October 2007, a significant change occurred - PCMT merged with Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) to form Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML). This merger aimed to eliminate route overlaps and improve financial performance.
The transformation of PMPML's fleet size over the years tells an interesting story:
- 2010: 1,454 buses operating on 271 routes
- 2012: 1,745 buses (including 327 hired from private operators) serving 12.3 lakh daily passengers
- 2014: Fleet size of 1,523 with 1,198 buses on the road (78.66% Fleet Utilisation)
- 2015: Fleet size of 2,100
- 2023: Fleet size of 2,066 with 1,658 buses in actual utilization (77.27% Fleet Utilisation) serving 387
- 2024: Fleet size of 1,880 with 1,602 buses in actual utilization (77.27% Fleet Utilisation) serving 11,47,702 Daily Passengers
Gaps in Understanding
What's particularly intriguing is the gap in data between 2008 and 2010. The CMP captured PCMT's final years, but we don't have granular data about the immediate post-merger period. This leaves several questions unanswered about how the transition was managed and how quickly the integrated service scaled up. Recently, there is more data about daily bus breakdown rates but that is also patchy. We would need year-by-year data between 2008-2024 to truly understand how the merged entity evolved and whether it achieved its goals of better coordination and improved service delivery. The available snapshots show growth in fleet size, but the full story of service quality, route optimization, and operational efficiency remains to be told. PMPML has been publishing statistical reports every month but the historical data is not available