politicians. Transport Highways Pune district has of roads. National and state highways crossing the district include: NH-48, from Mumbai to Bangalore. The western Dehu Road-Katraj bypass was completed in 1989, reducing traffic congestion in Pune and leading to industrial and housing growth along the bypass. NH-60, the Pune–Nashik National Highway NH-65, the Pune–Solapur–Hyderabad–Suryapet–Vijayawada National Highway Yashwantrao Chavan Mumbai Pune Expressway. Work on the six-lane toll road began in 1998 and was completed in 2001. State highways include: Pune–Ahmednagar-Aurangabad State Highway Pune–Alandi State Highway Pune–Saswad–Pandharpur State Highway Pune–Paud Road State Highway Talegaon–Chakan State Highway Public transport Bus service by private companies was introduced in Pune shortly before the independence. The city took over the service after the independence in 1947 as Poona Municipal Transport (PMT) which later became Pune Municipal Transport. During the 1990s, PMT and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Transport (PCMT, the bus-service provider in Pimpri-Chinchwad) had a combined fleet of over 1,000 buses. Because municipal transport coverage was patchy, a number of employers in the industrial belt near Pimpri-Chinchwad and Hadapsar offered bus service to their employees. The companies used many more private buses than the municipal providers used. The Pune Municipal Corporation began a bus rapid transit system (India's first) in 2006, but it encountered a number of difficulties. The two municipal bus companies merged in 2007 to form Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). The Commonwealth Youth Games were held the following year, which encouraged additional development in north-western Pune and added a fleet of buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) to the city's streets. Maharashtra State Transport buses began operating in 1951 throughout the state. During the 1960s, motorized three-wheeled auto rickshaws began replacing horse-drawn tangas in the district's urban areas; their number grew from 200 in 1960 to over 20,000 in 1996. Although Pune was known as the bicycle city of India in the 1930s, motorcycles began replacing bicycles in the 1970s; the number of motorcycles increased from five per 1,000 people in 1965 to 118 per 1,000 in 1995. Air Pune Airport (IATA: PNQ) is a civil enclave at Lohegaon Air Base, northeast of the city, with service to a number of domestic and international destinations. Since Pune's air traffic is controlled by the Indian Air Force (IAF), there is occasional conflict between the Airports Authority of India and the IAF over flight schedules or night landings. The airport apron is becoming inadequate to handle