Author: Srikanth

BEST? Bus! Vroom, *pulls bellpull* Hi, I'm Srikanth. I'm a freelance media fellow with a fascination for buses, toll plazas, fire trucks and drones.

This Blog Is Now Five Years Old

Okay, so this post should have gone out yesterday (9 July) but it didn’t. I’ve been a bit busy off late and haven’t been able to post much. I have at least six pending drafts that I intend to publish before this month ends.

I started this blog on 9 July 2015 because I wanted to write and after an internship that used WordPress, I wanted to do something of my own, with WordPress. Over the next five years there have been ups and downs, this blog has taken me places, gotten me internships and more. It also led to me picking up a career in writing (one that is no longer), but still.

I want to take a moment and thank some folks out there for their support. A shoutout to my Transit Group and its myriad members, folks who I’ve met thru my days at Swarajya and UnFound, folks that I’ve come across on Twitter, SkyscraperCity, The UnrealTimes, FEE and OpIndia, folks who have helped me out.

Anyway, I should now head back to getting those drafts published so that you folks can read it. I intend to cross the previous monthly records (10 posts in December 2015 and 12 posts in June 2020) as we continue to remain locked up due to the Wuhan Virus pandemic.

Also, a special shoutout to Sagar Aghore and his Brother P-Touch H110 for the featured image.

P.S: It is ironic that Google decided to chose this date to suspend my AdSense account. I’ve written a lot in May and June, pretty consistent and thus my traffic went up. As a result of that, ad revenue also shot up. So last month Google decided that it will play the role of the big, bad regulator and killed my ad revenue by limited the number of ads. Now, with practically zero ads on my site, it has come to the amazing conclusion that there were fraudulent clicks (WHEN THERE WERE NO ADS VISIBLE) and has suspended my account for a month.

If you want to know why I don’t trust Big Tech, especially Google, watch Season 7 of Elementary. Odker and Google are very similar.

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Have You Ever Wondered How Mumbai Monorail Switches Tracks?

It’s a simple question. How does the monorail switch tracks? We’ve seen regular trains and the metro switching tracks. But it’s a bit difficult with the monorail right? Especially given that the train traverses along a straddle beam?

Well, the answer is simple, truth be told. The entire straddle beam moves.

Don’t believe me? Watch this video:

If you look at the switch tracks on Google Earth, you’ll notice these are sections with a concrete platform below the beams.

Here are two such images. You can see that where the Switch track is present, the straddle beam is resting on concrete and the blue control sheds that you see in the video above, are also visible.

Monorail Chembur Switch Track 1

In the picture above, you can see the tracks aligned straight. In the pictures below, you can see the tracks aligned differently.

Monorail Chembur Switch Track 2

So how exactly does this work?

The straddle beam for the switch is mounted on a set of wheels that are perpendicular to the beam itself. These wheels move from on side of the viaduct to the other side but to varying lengths, thus forming the curve that you see.

Below is another example of how the switch happens, this time from the Osaka Monorail in Osaka, Japan.

Fascinating, isn’t it, how a monorail switches tracks?

Well, that’s all from me for this time. Hope you enjoyed this post. Once normalcy returns, I’ll try and get a good video of the monorail switching tracks.

Featured Image: Mumbai Monorail by Ashwin Kumar on Flickr.

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Depot Atop A Drain: Look At Delhi’s Cluster Buses Parked At Sunehri Pullah From Above

Did you know Delhi has two bus depots built atop a drain? Yes. The Sunehri Pullah Depot and the Kushak Nallah Depot on either side of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Both were built around 2010, when the Commonwealth Games came to Delhi. The city’s infrastructure went in for a much needed overhaul prior to the games (with the Delhi Metro Airport Express also being built at the same time along with the Violet Line that saw the Zamrudpur accident). Both of them are built on branches of the Barapullah Nallah. Both of them house the orange-coloured Cluster buses operated by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS). Older readers may recall that I named them Orange Faeries in 2015.

So here is a picture of them, parked at the Western side (next to the Lodhi Road entrance) of the Sunehari Pullah depot.

They look beautiful don’t they?

This was clicked by Sohaib Ilyas. Please do follow him on Instagram: @iamsohaibilyas.

Delhi has three types of buses, the standard green non-AC buses, the maroon AC buses and the orange Cluster Buses. Cluster buses were introduced by the late former chief minister Sheila Dikshit as a replacement after phasing out the Blue Line buses.

To know more about their difference, do read this: Delhi and its Bus Melee

These Orange Faeries look cool from above, don’t they?

Featured Image: Delhi Cluster Buses (Aam Aadmi Party)

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You’ve Seen Mumbai Monorail’s Depot From The Train, Here It Is From The Sky

Whenever we take a ride on an intra-city rail line, we’re bound to see the line’s carshed or depot somewhere. If you take the Western Line, you might see the car shed at Mumbai Central or Kandivali, and on the Central Line at Kurla. If you take the Mumbai Metro, you’ll see its depot at Four Bungalows, and if you take the Monorail, you’ll see it at Wadala. There’s a high likelihood that saying Wadala Depot might confuse a lot of people. For it might be referring to BEST’s Wadala Depot that is located at Wadala (West) and is closer to Dadar, or BEST’s Anik and Pratiksha Nagar Depots that are located in Wadala East near the Salt Pans. Or, it could refer to the Monorail Depot.

So, without much further ado, here is the picture of the Monorail Depot:

This amazing drone shot has been taken by a drone-based media agency called BrainWing India. Don’t forget to follow them on Instagram: @brainwing_india.

Apart from the Monorail Depot, you can also see the Lodha New Cuffe Parade apartment complex behind it.

It is important to note that the Monorail depot only houses the first building with a wavy blue roof behind the station and the blue building behind that.

So what are all the other blue sheds and structures in the vicinity? Most of them are casting yards used by various contractors for the Mumbai Metro project.

The first one, at the top left-hand-side corner where the monorail track curves is a casting yard for tunnel rings for Mumbai Metro Line 3 operated by Turkey-based Doğuş and its Hyderabad-based partner Soma. The large blue shed next to the Monorail Depot is used by Tata Projects for the same. L&T and Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) use casting yards at the far end of this picture for casting tunnel rings.

Immediately next to the depot is the Nagarjuna Construction Company’s (NCC) casting yard for casting U-girders for the Metro’s Line 7 and next to it is the casting yard for J Kumar and on top of the that is the casting yard that Simplex used to use for Line 2.

For a better reference, see this tweet by Sahil Pednekar.

The monorail makes for a gorgeous sight from above, no?

That’s all from me for today. Don’t forget to follow BrainWing on Instagram. Don’t forget to share this post as well.

Featured Image: Mumbai Monorail Depot by Ashwin Kumar on Flickr.

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With Bags of Change Lying At Depots, BEST Too Joins QR Code Bandwagon

After BMTC and MTC, BEST too has opted to go in for a QR code-based UPI payment system, except this time it is to eliminate loose change lying with the undertaking.

As reported by Rajendra Aklekar for Mid-Day, the new system will be tested by BEST for buses belonging to two depots, Wadala and Colaba. Conductors will wear a badge with the QR Code on it. Commuters will have to tell conductors their destination, he will tell them the fare and then commuters can scan and make the payment using a UPI-compliant app.

BEST apparently has crores worth of loose change lying in their depots, prompting them to sometimes pay staff salaries with them.

BEST currently allows passengers to pay using their prepaid card (the ePurse) and using the Ridlr app. Both will remain independent of the new system and will remain operational.

The ePurse system was down for a significant time (seven months) in the 2018-2019 period when ticket machines failed after their provider Trimax IT filed for bankruptcy.

Let’s hope BEST’s move will see UPI adoption increase further.

Featured image: Death of the BEST ticket; Oh, how the mighty have fallen (Satish Krishnamurthy on Flickr)

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Pune Can Probably Beat UP’s Record With 400 More Buses

Remember how in May, the INC in Uttar Pradesh promised to send 1,000 buses to the Yogi-Adityanath led government in providing transport to migrant workers? And how many of those buses were blacklisted from operations and some were not even buses?

Then someone shared a picture of a a line of buses parked along the highway claiming it had been provided by the Congress. Only to be fact-checked by OpIndia, and proven false. The buses were actually from February 2019 when the Prayagraj Mela Authority and Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) lined up 503 buses on National Highway 19 and set a world record for the Largest Parade of Buses in the Guinness Book of World Records. You can check out the entry by clicking here and also see some pictures.

Now, coming back to Pune. For over a month, 105 buses have been parked on the BRTS lanes of the under-construction road linking the Ravet to Nigdi. Here is a snapshot of it from Google Earth!

One might say, the PMPML can move another 400 buses to this spot and potentially break a world record. While many may say that there is a technicality that these buses are parked and not being paraded, PMPML merely needs to turn on their engines and move them a bit.

Here is a drone shot of the same from Aditya Bhagwat on Instagram.

Click on the arrow in the above image to see the next image. Do follow Aditya (aditya_bhagwat_official) on Instagram!

One fifth of a world record!

Featured Image: Largest parade of buses (Guinness World Records)

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Tiranga Time: One Of India’s Tallest National Flags And Nigdi’s Bhakti Shakti Bus Terminal

Standing tall at 107 m (351 feet), one of India’s tallest National Flags is located at the Bhakti Shakti Chowk at Nigdi in Pimpri-Chinchwad. This junction, an intersection of the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway (National Highway 48/Old NH4), Spine Road and Nigdi Chikhli Road (being extended to the Mukai Chowk Kiwale BRTS terminal) also houses the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) Bhakti Shakti Bus Depot and the Sahityaratna Lokshahir Anna Bhau Sathe Bus Terminal.

The bus terminal is the starting point of the Nigdi-Dapodi arm of the Rainbow BRTS (remember that?).

Shot by Jagdish Patil using a DJI Mavic drone, here is a beautiful view of the bus terminal. You can see the terminal on the left hand side of the upcoming flyover.

Another shot by Jagdish shows the Bhakti Shakti depot. It is visible below in the top right corner, just behind the national flag.

Do follow Jagdish on Instagram: @imjagdishpatil.

That’s all for this post. Quite a tall flag, eh?

Featured Image: Nigdi Bus terminal by Mahesh Kumbar (Google Maps)

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This Is What Mulund Depot Looks Like From Above. Also Look At A Toll Plaza

Okay, I admit that I’ve already shown you guys images of Mulund Depot from above. Except that it’s from 600-odd km above the ground. At least that’s the height at which Maxar’s DigitalGlobe WorldView satellite orbits the Earth.

Here’s one from slightly closer to the ground. Shot with a drone, this one is by Vedish Thorat on Instagram. You can follow Vedish here: @Vedishthorat.

Once among the top depots for AC buses, the Mulund depot sadly houses none today.

Now, along with the Mulund Bus Depot, here is a smashing view of the Thane Anand Nagar Toll Plaza on the Eastern Express Highway, also clicked by Vedish. This toll plaza is operated by MEP Infrastructure on behalf of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Good looking no?

So here’s the two-for-one: a bus depot and a toll plaza.

I hope you’re enjoying the ad-free experience thanks to Google’s hegemony.

But I’d still request you to back me up on Patreon.

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Featured Image: Mulund Bus Depot (Yogesh Kalgutkar, Google Maps)

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Pictures: Buses Ferry Passengers To Quarantine From Mumbai Airport

After flights resumed in select sectors to allow people to return home, airports have been busy zones with people being transported to quarantine zones for the ongoing Wuhan Virus pandemic.

At Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, buses are lined up to ferry passengers to the hotels that are used for quarantine purposes. Here are some pictures:

BEST's mini-bus fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.
BEST’s mini-bus fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.

As you can see, BEST has deployed its mini-bus fleet for this purpose. These post vans have been used for myriad purposes over the last three months. They’ve been used to carry essential supplies, they’ve been used as ambulances, they have been used as shuttle services for essential workers and more.

BEST's mini-bus fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.
BEST’s mini-bus fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.

Here is another snap of these buses queued up at the terminal.

Now, BEST isn’t the only transco with its buses being used to ferry passengers from the airport. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC/ST) is also using its Shivshahi fleet of AC buses to ferry passengers.

MSRTC's Shivshahi fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.
MSRTC’s Shivshahi fleet waiting at T2, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Photo by Mahesh Sakhalkar.

The Shivneri fleet meanwhile has been used to carry goods.

Here is a picture of the Shivneri Scania fleet parked at Nancy Colony, Borivali. The regular buses are used as cargo buses, mostly to transport mangoes.

MSRTC's Scania Shivneri fleet parked at Nancy Colony. Photo by Yash Mhadgut.
MSRTC’s Scania Shivneri fleet parked at Nancy Colony. Photo by Yash Mhadgut.

An update: Regular buses are being used as Cargo buses with seats removed. The bus in the picture is a Malvan- Borivali cargo bus which mostly carried Mangoes.

Here is another picture of the Shivneri fleet:

MSRTC's Scania Shivneri fleet parked at Nancy Colony. Photo by Yash Mhadgut.
MSRTC’s Scania Shivneri fleet parked at Nancy Colony. Photo by Yash Mhadgut.

Both BEST and MSRTC are using their AC bus fleet.

That’s all from me this time. Stay tuned for some more amazing drone shots to be seen though.

In the meantime though, traffic to this blog went up by leaps and bounds over the last month. I’ve made more than 10 posts in June 2020 (higher than the 10 I made in December 2015) and one post in particular – Mission Begin Again: Here Are BEST’s Bus Operations From 8 June 2020 – saw a huge spike in visits, notably from Google Search (for obvious reasons). Of course, this resulted in increased ad revenue as well, but Google AdSense has deemed this traffic as ‘invalid’ because well, it’s their hegemony, remember? Hence, you won’t be seeing Google Ads on this site for the time being.

So please consider backing me up on Patreon.

Become a Patron!

Featured image: A-337 from Agarkar Chowk to CSMIA T2, parked at the airport bus stop in March 2020, when the bus was launched.

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This Is What Worli Depot Looks Like From Above (You Can Charge Electric Vehicles Here Too!)

One of the most under-rated depots under BEST is the Worli depot. It has till date never been home to any air-conditioned buses, although it sheltered the Cerita fleet during the day.

Prior to their cancellation in 2017, there were several buses operated by BEST that terminated at the National Sports Centre of India (NSCI)/Nehru Planetarium/Lotus bus stop at Worli. Originally running till Colaba Depot, they were truncated due to lack of takers. Among these were AS-2 running from Mira Road Station (East), belonging to the Magathane Depot, AS-592 from Kopar Khairane that belonged to the Deonar Depot, A-74 Express of the Oshiwara Depot that took the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, A-75 Express of the Majas Depot coming from Hiranandani Powai and A-76 Express from Gorai Depot that also took the Sea Link. While none of these buses belonged to the Worli Depot, they used to be parked at Worli during the day time. This is because most of them had a schedule where they would leave from their origin point in the morning and leave from Worli only in the evening. Few buses would have a modified route terminating at their home depots instead of their starting points during noon and would return from these depots to Worli in the early afternoon.

Now the Worli depot is also unique in its layout. There are actually two depots separated by Sasmira Marg. While the eastern half of the depot flanks Dr Narayan Hardikar Marg, its entrance is still on Sasmira Marg facing the entrance to the western half.

Latest photographs of the Depot show that it now hosts a few mini-buses, double deckers and also is a charging point for electric vehicles, not just cars.

Also Read: Switching To Electric Cars By 2030: What India Needs To Do

Anyway, getting back to the Worli Depot, here is a fantastic aerial snap of the depot clicked by Kinshuk (@pixels.of.perception on Instagram), using a drone.

View this post on Instagram

The sound we hear these days on the streets of Mumbai most frequently is the hustling and bustling sound of the BEST buses 😍 Applaud and salute to the spirit of the relentless employees of the BEST who are working day in and out to help essential service provider and frontline workers reach their destination 👏🙌🏼 – 📍 Worli Depot / Worli Aagaar – #mymumbai 🧡 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ #PerspectivePixels #mypixeldiary #_soi #_soimumbai #indiapictures #itz_mumbai #Fromwhereidrone #Drone #aerial #maharashtra #lockdown #lockdown2020 #pandemic #mumbaipolice #BEST #coronawarriors #respect #salute #pattern #symmetry #nustaharamkhor #maibhisadakchap #whatkarlloves #quarantine #quarantineactivities #stayhome #staysafe

A post shared by Kinshuk 📍Mumbai | India (@pixels.of.perception) on

While this picture only captures the Eastern half of the depot, it still is an amazing shot. You can also see a few vehicles belonging to BEST’s Electricity Department on the bottom left hand corner of the image. There are generally cable-inspection and repair vans.

Do follow Kinshuk on Instagram here: Kinshuk 📍Mumbai | India

Anyway, here is a picture of the Mini-buses parked at the Worli Depot taken at 6am in the morning. You can also see a double-decker parked inside.

Mini-buses inside Worli Depot (Photo Credit: Mahesh Sakhalkar for BESTpedia)
Mini-buses inside Worli Depot (Photo Credit: Mahesh Sakhalkar for BESTpedia)

And here is the entrance to the bus depot with a board that designates it as a charging point with the rate of ₹8.25/unit mentioned.

The entrance to Worli Depot charging station (Picture: Mahesh Sakhalkar for BESTpedia)
The entrance to Worli Depot charging station (Picture: Mahesh Sakhalkar for BESTpedia)

Featured image: Entrance to Worli Depot by Mahesh Sakhalkar.

This depot also allows you to charge your electric vehicles!

A special thanks to Mahesh for clicking these amazing photographs for me. Also, don’t forget to share, comment and if you can support me on Patreon.

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