PUNE: Majority of individuals who have travelled in Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s (MSRTC) ordinary buses i.e. ‘Lal Pari’ have unforgettable memories of the journey even if their journey was marred by poor interior of the bus, uncomfortable seats, hot and humid conditions, leaking of the roof or rain water seeping inside through broken windows and many others.
Despite all this, the 70-year-old transport utility has a fan following too. One such group - ‘Bus For Us’ - has over 10,000 members across the state. They have set up a museum on wheels depicting the history and journey of the state transport bus - derisively called ‘Lal Dabba’.
This bus will travel across the state trying to convey the change the state transport service has seen over the years.
The President of the group, Rohit Dhende, said that it comes as a surprise to many people when they hear that there is a group called ST fans. There are over 10,000 members are in the group and connect each through social media.
“The group proposed this idea to senior officials of MSRTC three years ago who agreed to provide a local route bus for the exhibition. We put together ‘ST Vishwa Rath’ giving information about the history of MSRTC services as well as exhibiting collectables that we fans had procured from various sources which includes old tickets, old badges etc. It also had other interesting information such as names of the first ever conductor of an ST bus,” said Aditya Rane, Vice-President of the group.
At Shivajinagar, where the bus halted for a day, hundreds of school kids, other passengers as well as MSRTC’s staffers paid a visit and appreciated the efforts put into the exhibition.
The group has put together an ‘exhibition on wheels’ inside a state transport bus which gives the visitors, a tour of the journey of state transport buses from 1948 (when the corporation was known as Bombay State Road Transport Corporation) till date and details about various aspects. It also enlists various schemes of MSRTC which are not widely known to the people. The exhibition showcased different miniature models of various bus models used by MSRTC in the last few decades including Ashwamedh, Nilkamal, Asiad, Hirkani, Shivneri. Rare photographs of buses like Bedford, Leyland Tiger, Albian and Asiad are also on the display.
The exhibition on wheels will travel to all district headquarters in the State spending one or two days at each district.
Dhende said, “The idea is to convey to the average passenger that ST is changing. It is not the ‘Lal Dabba’ anymore and passengers should make the most of it.”