Mumbai: MSRTC to scrub down its buses, Western Railway gets cleaning plant

MSRTC has urged passengers to alert its depots if they come across unclean buses

The pandemic has taught public transporters a lesson like nothing else could, with all of them renewing focus on cleaning, sanitisation and hygiene of their vehicles.

Stung by criticism of poorly maintained buses, the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation on Wednesday appealed to passengers to alert local depots if they find buses unclean. MSRTC said it has taken up deep-cleaning of its buses and fixing basic repairs.

"All the internal parts like seats, window frames, handlebars and the side walls will be scrubbed clean with soap water and guidelines have been issued to all bus depots. In addition to this, sanitisation will also be carried as per practice," an MSRTC spokesperson said.

MSRTC has been looking to attract more commuters through schemes and customisations in routes and service timings. The clean-up campaign is also a part of this initiative, said the official.

WR's coach cleaning plant

For the benefit of rail users, a similar cleanliness initiative has also been launched by the Western Railway. It commissioned last week an automatic coach washing plant at Mumbai Central to save time, water and manpower. WR hopes to save nearly Rs 68 lakh on external washing cost at the depot. The Rs 1.67-crore plant can wash a 24-coach rake in 20 minutes.

"The plant is very efficient in utilisation of water and utilises approximately 60 per cent less water compared to manual washing resulting in a savings of approximately 18 million litres of fresh water every year (equivalent to freshwater requirement of 365 urban individuals for an entire year)," Sumit Thakur, Western Railway's chief public relations officer said.