Food sold at canteens in depots highly priced and of poor quality, complain travellers; also drivers only stop at cheap food malls on expressway
Food sold at canteens in depots highly priced and of poor quality, complain travellers; also drivers only stop at cheap food malls on expressway
In the second installment of the series on Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Shivneri AC Volvo buses, MiD DAY revisited Swargate and Pune Railway Station bus depots to evaluate the
commuters' experience of the food and restroom facilities available at the bus depots. From complaints of absence of decent food canteens at depots to buses halting at 'unhygienic' food malls on the expressway, most commuters said they preferred to eat packed products as the food barely edible and not worth trying unless really hungry.
Swargate bus stand
Most commuters said the canteen services needed a complete facelift and that eating there was not possible, as the place was too small andu00a0 lacked variety.
Software engineer Mandar Bhadkamkar (35) said that some of the money collected through the sale of tickets should be used to provide better canteen facilities.
"We spend so much money for tickets, but even basic facilities like a decent canteen are lacking. Firstly,
the canteen is too small and has only five tables, whereas thousands of people pass through this depot daily. It is better to buy packed food from the stalls, he said.
Ranjit Anand (22) said that the prices of both the tickets and food were high, so he could not afford to eat from depot canteens.
"The tickets prices are so high that there is little money left to spend on food and then again the food here is expensive and unappetising," he said.
Pune railway station bus depot
At least the commuters had a canteen at Swargate, even if it wasn't good enough. However, at Pune station, regular travellers said that they had not seen a canteen on the premises. "There are food stalls though and vendors go around selling packets of chips and soft drinks. But we have to shell out much more than the market retail price. Besides this, only junk food is available and is not filling. But there is no choice here," said Sheetal Ahuja (26), an IT professional from Camp.
Another major problem faced by regular commuters is that bus drivers stop at expressway food malls that are low grade. They do this for personal gains. Saurabh Basu (26), who was on his way to Mumbai for a flight to Germany, said that he travels on this route often but he does not like the food malls.
"There are a couple of food malls on the expressway and while a few of them are really good and have outlets of well-known restaurants, the rest are run by local contractors and are not places we would like to go to. The bus drivers stop at malls that are not so good because it is cheaper for them, but we can't eat there. Also the restrooms here are in a pathetic state," he complained.
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