THANE: The Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) undertaking’s budget plans for 2018-19 has put emphasis on revenue growth and womens’ safety, but is a thorough disappointment for the average commuter as no service expansion or new routes have been announced to connect the growing city.The TMT undertaking, led by manager Sandeep Malvi , on Thursday morning, presented a budget estimate of Rs 381 crore for the coming financial year and the revised expenditure account of Rs 228 crore for 2017-18 to chairman Anil Bhor. The budget will now be presented before the transport committee and subsequently before the TMC general body.The budget books reveal that there were operational losses to the tune of nearly Rs 30 crore in the current fiscal with its AC and non-AC services causing the highest drop in revenue. The much patronized AC Volvo buses plying on the Thane-Borivli route has registered a drop in earnings this fiscal. “The earning of this service was more last year. However, with several other operators like NMMT and MSRTC, too, plying AC buses on this sector, the TMT earnings was close to Rs 16 crore, short of the expected revenue of Rs 18 crore,” said an official.The undertaking has pinned its hope on the ethanol buses and ladies special services that will begin in the next fiscal to earn good revenue. Nearly, Rs 23 crore is expected to be earned by the 50 Tejaswini buses and 50 ethanol-powered buses next year.The TMT has sought a Rs 227 crore grant from the civic body to meet its miscellaneous expenditures. “We have presented a budget of Rs 381 crore for the next fiscal. The transport budget will now be discussed by the standing committee and later be presented before the general body,” informed Malvi.Meanwhile, activists have expressed disappointment at the budget allocations saying there is nothing new for commuters in this budget.

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