The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) officials announced that a fleet of the newly acquired air-conditioned (AC) double-decker electric buses have arrived in Mumbai; however, the e-bus will be registered at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) before it hits the road for the public.
This development came under the part of BEST’s clean and green mobility initiative.
Initially, only a handful of AC double-decker e-buses will be operational in the city, and according to the official estimates more such buses will hit the roads by the end of March.
Officials further stated that 200 AC double-decker e-buses, one of its kind bus services, will be inducted by year end.
Besides, Mumbai's BEST transport body is scheduled to receive 4-5 more such buses in the next 8-10 days and a total of 20 such buses before March-end, the official added.
Meanwhile, the BEST officials said that they are expecting to receive more buses batch-wise. In the financial year 2023-24, BEST is planning to introduce around 4,000 e-buses in the city which include around 200 AC double-decker e-buses.
Route:
The first AC double-decker e-bus will be operational from the Kurla bus depot on the Kurla-Santacruz route.
BEST has decided to deploy the buses on other city routes that have a huge footfall during office hours: Colaba depot, Majas depot, and Kurla depot.
Facilities:
The AC double-decker e-bus has a capacity of carrying 78 commuters
It has doors on both sides for passengers to move in and move out easily
Digital tap-in tap-out ticketing service available
CCTV cameras installed for the safety of the passengers
Fare:
It will have a minimum fare of INR 6
Benefits:
The 200 buses which will be introduced by BEST this year, will reduce BEST’s carbon footprint and will also save around 26 million litres of diesel per year.