Have you ever seen the PMPML website? I discovered it the other day, when I was quite fed up of the weird services of PMPML on the Hinjewadi - Nigdi route. It's called http://www.pmpml.org/ and there is actually a complaint registration form on this website.
And then I had stumbled upon this when I googled to satitate my curiosity
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-08-09/pune/28308123_1_pmpml-buses-complaint-redressal-commuters
A snippet from this news item is pasted here for ready reference:
"The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited has started a complaint redressal centre for commuters. A complainant can call 24503355, or SMS on mobile number 9881495589 between 6 am and 10 pm on all days, said a press release issued on Saturday."
I took note of these numbers; and whenever I found a delayed bus, I used to sms this mobile number explaining the issue with the bus number or bus time and route info in the sms. Invariably, I got a response back giving me a complaint number. And after a week's time someone from PMPML would call me back and give me reasons for the problem. So far so good.
Haven't really experienced this go beyond "Service Desk" & "Incident Management" in ITIL terminology. In the sense that "Problem Management" does not seem to have come into operation yet; in that, the frequency of buses in peak hours is still an issue; and buses on this route are still made to "wait" and "get delayed" because the conductor needs "to issue tickets to everyone" - can you believe that??!!
However, they did put in place a few measures like - at Nigdi, a bunch of 3/4 conductors would get into the bus, to complete issuing tickets in a jiffy; and get off, so that the waiting time was reduced. However, it is not a consistant practice; and the bus still needs to wait sometimes. The root cause is the frequency is too low to cater to the requirements of the peak hour and end users are bound to face poor response time and poor quality of service!
Further since there are no shuttle-like bus services between Nigdi and Chinchwad Gaon; people use the Hinjewadi bus to go to Chinchwad - Gaon; and since that stop arrives within 15 mins; the bus conductor needs to hurry up to issue tickets to all such people. A better solution would be to convert the Akurdi Railway Station - Nigdi shuttle into a Akurdi Railway Station - Dange Chowk shuttle. Those Akurdi Railway Station to Nigdi buses are empty half the time; and would run fuller since they have a higher frequency of one every 15 minutes! These shuttles never get cancelled; unlike the Nigdi - Hinjewadi bus.
Well, I am a capacity planner by profession you see; but the PMPML does not know that! ;-)
Nonetheless, during these trips by PMPML; whenever I came across a co-passenger who was grumbling about the lack of good service, I would share these details of telephone numbers so that they could sms and complain their heart out.
I had my initial euphoric moments, when I got a valid complaint number or when the PMPML rep called me up and made me feel like a VIP and explained the problem; or the first time when I saw those bunch of conductors flooding the bus from both doors of the bus to ensure tickets were issued fast; but those moments were not euphoric enough; because the problems I've complained about continue to remain.
The best and most euphoric and ecstatic moment for me was a couple of days ago - When a young co-passenger; she probably studied at the Management college in Wakad - I guess; came to me and told me with excitement, "Do you know there is a number where you can complain about poor service? I called them up and you know they even give a complaint number and then after a week a person from PMPML calls back to explain the reason why the bus was delayed". I said "Wow! That's great!"
It's truly a very small world :-)
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