Roughly 94 per cent of the population of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad can access public transport within a 5-10 min walking distance, but only 21 per cent (1 in 5) have access to a bus that comes every five minutes, says to a new study by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML).The findings are part of the People Near Transit (PNT) 2026 Study, prepared with technical support from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and launched on August 24 at a meeting of the PMPML Board of Directors. The launch was attended by PMPML Chairman and Managing Director Mahesh Awhad, Pune Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, Pune Mayor Manjusha Nagpure, and Standing Committee Chairperson Shrinath Bhimale, among senior officials.The PNT methodology measures what proportion of a city’s population can reach public transit services, buses and metro, within a 5 to 10-minute walkable distance (400m to 800m). It also measures how much of that population has access to frequent service, defined in the study as a stop served by at least one bus every five minutes.Sharp decline since 2019While overall coverage of public transport remains high, the drop in frequent-service access is the study’s most striking finding. Frequent-transit coverage has fallen from 66 per cent in the previous PNT assessment conducted in 2019 to just 21 per cent today, and the areas that do have frequent buses are concentrated mainly along Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) corridors.Also Read | No ease up in fatal accidents: 60 killed in PMPML bus crashes since 2024The report attributes the decline largely to PMPML expanding its route network into newly developed and newly inhabited areas without a matching increase in fleet size. PMPML currently operates a fleet of roughly 2,000 buses across more than 450 routes.Sixteen transit deserts flaggedThe study identifies 16 public bus transit deserts, pockets with population densities of up to 50,000 people per square kilometre, where bus frequency has failed to keep pace with demand.Eight of these are in Pune: Baner, Dhanori, Dhayari, Handewadi, Kondhwa, Kothrud, Ambegaon and Wadgaon Sheri. The remaining eight are in Pimpri-Chinchwad: Akurdi, Bhosari, Chikhali, MIDC, Rahatani, Sangavi, Talwade and Wakad.Story continues below this adThe report describes these localities as priority zones for future interventions to improve service frequency.Other gapsThe study also flags unequal access across specific categories of infrastructure and population groups:– Only 20 per cent of employment centres have access to frequent public transport.– Just 30 per cent of schools are served by frequent buses.– Among notified slums, only 37 per cent have frequent-transit access.– 47 per cent of bus stops are connected through the city’s Healthy Streets pedestrian network.Fleet augmentation seen as the fixPMPML Chairman and Managing Director Mahesh Awhad said the PNT study points to a clear path forward – a combination of fleet augmentation, route rationalisation, improved frequency, better bus stop infrastructure, pedestrian connectivity and closer integration with the Metro and BRTS networks.Story continues below this ad“PMPML has already tendered 1,000 CNG buses and is expected to receive 1,000 electric buses under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme. The augmentation of the fleet will help close the most critical gap,” he said.Aditya Rane, Deputy Manager, Transport Systems and Electric Mobility at ITDP India, said, “The study finds that if routes currently operating at 10- 20-minute frequencies are restructured to provide five-minute frequencies, the share of the population with access to frequent transit could increase from 21 to 61 per cent.”Rane added that such changes could improve service levels in 10 of the 16 identified transit deserts, and would move the twin cities closer to the Viksit Maharashtra 2047 target of ensuring frequent transit access in at least 60 per cent of city wards.