Month: June 2020

Feast Your Eyes On This Photograph Of Electric House And Colaba Depot

A few weeks ago I had posted a photograph of a fabulous view of the Oshiwara depot with Mini-Buses parked there. A day later, I shared another visual treat of BEST Midi-Buses snapped on the Sea Link, both sourced from Instagram.

Today, I’m sharing yet another fantastic image, this time of BEST’s Electric House at Colaba. Nearly a century and a half old, Electric House is the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking and is located on the Colaba Causeway. It is located next to the Parsi Colony and apart from housing the offices of BEST, also houses the Colaba Depot.

Until BEST was taken over by the Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1947, Colaba Depot remained the only facility for maintenance and repair of buses.

So, without further ado, here is the image of the Colaba Depot! The picture was clicked by Ujwal Puri and shared on Twitter by Sahil Pednekar. Do click on the picture to see the full image.

The depot and Electric House are located to the right hand side with half the depot being populated by BEST’s regular, full-length buses with the other half being populated by the mini-bus fleet. These mini-buses are owned by PNM Transport and Mobility Limited, identified by PNM on the body of the bus.

Electric House and Colaba Depot look fantastic from above, don’t they?

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Featured image: Electric House, clicked in 2005 by Nicholas Alphonso.

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Watch: Social Distancing Seems To Have Gone For A Toss In BEST Buses

With many transit agencies implementing strict rules regarding seating arrangements and limits on the number of passengers in vehicles to ensure social distancing, BEST too decided to implement it. While BEST has had it from before the lockdown, it has reiterated it now as part of the government’s Unlock 1.0 programme (Mission Begin Again).

No more than 30 passengers (25 seated and 5 standees) are permitted on a bubs with the left and right seats being occupied to ensure distancing.

However, in this video posted by Railfan Pankaj on Instagram, all that seems to have gone for a toss.

From the video, the bus appears more to have more standees than permitted. The supervising staff/depot staff were forcing more passengers to board the bus.

A similar sight was visible at Borivali near the railway station on the eastern side. Here is a picture of the mess, as posted by Yash on Twitter.

It looks like nothing has changed since the virus outbreak.

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Featured image: Distancing Vectors by Vecteezy

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After BMTC, MTC Picks Up QR Code-Based Cashless Ticketing In Chennai

Similar to the decision of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) of Chennai, fka Pallavan has also decided to implement a QR Code-based cashless ticketing mechanism on its buses.

The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu Minister of Transport M R Vijayabhaskar on 1 June 2020 via Twitter.

In his tweet, Vijayabhaskar has said that QR-code based cashless transactions were now permitted and that a trial run had begun using Paytm. According to a report by The Hindu, the two buses were both bound for the Secretariat at Georgetown with one originating at Thyagaraya Nagar (T Nagar) and the other at Todhunter Nagar in Saidapet.

Officials at MTC have said that once more buses hit the street, the system will be extended to them as well. Commuters can use any UPI-based payment app such as Google Pay/Tez, Paytm, PhonePe, KhaaliJeb or their bank app.

The system is very similar to the system that the BMTC has set-up, which is essentially only for cashless transactions and not cashless ticketing.

While the immediate side-effect of this would be an increase in UPI adoption across Chennai, it will still remain a time-consuming method. In the long run, the state government has to promote the National Common Mobility Card as a means to go forward.

One hopes that the MTC’s parent body, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) starts extending this to other cities including Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai.

For UPI platforms, this is a golden opportunity to expand their footprint. While the better known apps like BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay (formerly Tez) and Paytm have managed to get a market of their own, smaller niche apps like KhaaliJeb can make an impact here. KhaaliJeb (literally Empty Pocket in Hindi) is a UPI-based payments app designed for students. According the developers, the app has a student loyalty that will offer them discounts from merchants while also allowing them to split expenses. Given Chennai and Coimbatore’s status as educational hubs, this is the right time for such apps to strike gold.

If all goes well, it might seem like the Pallavan Kollavan (Killer Pallavan) tag might actually refer to cash.

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Also Read: Once This Pandemic Is Over, We Should Look At How We Transact

Featured image: An MTC bus belonging to the Central Depot on Route 21G from Broadway to Tambaram Railway Station. (Photo credits: VtTN on the Wikimedia Commons).

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Mission Begin Again: Here Are BEST’s Bus Operations From 8 June 2020

With parts of the country returning to normalcy from tomorrow (8 June 2020), BEST buses too are slowly returning to normalcy. As part of the state government’s Mission Begin Again, BEST has announced that it will start ferrying office-goers and regular commuters from the eight.

As per a report by the Hindustan Times, only 30 passengers will be permitted in a bus with a maximum of five standees as against the normal capacity of 54. Of these 30, 25 will be seated passengers. A passenger will be allowed to sit on the left and the right side of the buses with the adjacent seat remaining vacant.

BEST administration has said that 2,000 buses will initially be pulled into service and based on the passenger flow, 300 buses will be added every week.

While BEST has not announced anything about is mini-bus/midi-bus fleet, these buses have been doing the rounds over the last three months, ferrying passengers across the city, mostly for essential services.

BEST has however, announced the operation of major bus routes from the suburbs to South Bombay, as well as from the city to regions beyond the MCGM limits.

Of these, five bus routes, designated as Corridor services will go beyond MCGM limits.

Corridor 1 will connect Virar to Malvani Depot via Gorai Depot and Borivali Station.

Corridor 2 will connect Nallasopara to Goregaon Depot via SV Road till Kora Kendra and then along the Western Express Highway.

Corridor 3 will connect Badlapur to Rani Laxmi Chowk (Sion) via Airoli and Shil Phata.

Corridor 4 will connect Kalyan to Rani Laxmi Chowk via Mumbra and Kharigaon.

Corridor 5 will connect Panvel to Rani Laxmi Chowk.

Here is the entire list of routes:

Mission Begin Again: Best Bus Routes from 8 June 2020
Mission Begin Again: Best Bus Routes from 8 June 2020

Stay safe folks, be careful and don’t forget to wear your masks and maintain distance.

Featured Image: Juhu Vile Parle (JVPD) Bus Station clicked by me on 29 April 2020.

A special thanks to Pranav Curumsey for helping me out with this post.

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Cyclone Nisarga What? Here Are Visuals From Mumbai’s Brand New World-Class Aquarium

In December last year when Maharashtra saw a political coup, resulting in a mix-and-match coalition government coming to power, the newly throned chief minister announced plans to build a grand, “world-class” multi-level aquarium. Just over six months later with Cyclone Nisarga having crossed the city, here are some stunning visuals of the new aquarium.

Without wasting time, the government run by the Best CM (not BEST CM) has gone ahead and quietly implemented the aquarium at King’s Circle near Matunga. Below are some pictures from news agencies Asian News International (ANI) and Free Press Journal (FPJ). You can click on the indiviudal images to see more.

As pointed out on Twitter by Karthik, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has managed to build the aquarium on the first day of rains!

While the fish are not immediately visible due to vehicles, they will slowly find their way, along with other creatures including worms, snakes, prawns and shrimp (after being washed from markets). The largest creature currently in these waters is BEST’s Aqua Faeries; as seen in the above pictures (not to be confused with the earlier Purple Faeries).

Apart from this, the government has also implemented a new waterfall system in the city, although it is linked with the sewerage system. You can catch it in action here:

Ever since the 2005 floods, political parties in Maharashtra have promised to turn the city into Singapore or Shanghai. Sadly, this year, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Mumbai became Wuhan while Maharashtra became Hubei. However, on a regular basis, the city turns into Venice every year during the monsoons.

Mumbaikars have got their aquarium. Now, let’s wait for the metro.

Also Read: Satire: BEST To Capitalise On CM’s New-Found Fame, Will Feature His Face On All New Buses

Also Read: Satire: In Absence Of Depot, Metro 3 To Run BEST Buses In Tunnel

Note: The above article is meant to be humourous. Please don’t register a police complain or send goondas to the writer’s residence.

Or, as Karthik puts it, PS: Satire alert⚠️🚨. Not to be taken seriously unless you are a BMC official.😅😅

Featured Image: Fishtank by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay.

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In Case You Missed It: A Bajaj QUTE Was Spotted Operating As An Auto-Rickshaw in Andheri

A little over four years ago, I had attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make In India Week where among many things, I saw a few interesting vehicles. Among these, I saw Scania’s ethanol-blend Bio-fuel bus that was operational with Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Limited (NMPL) and subsequently also with the Kadamba Transport Corproation (KTC) in Panaji, Goa, Volvo’s 8400 B7RLE Diesel-CNG Hybrid bus that was trial with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking and a the world’s largest dumper from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). Note: A dumper is not the same as a dump-truck.

Read more: From #MakeInIndia to Made in India

I also saw an air-conditioned Minibus from Force Motors, albeit with fully-sealed windows which I said would be great for feeder services to metro stations. And just like I said, similar buses ended up being used by BEST three years as feeder buses. Here is a picture of the bus that I saw in 2016.

MakeInIndia-Force-Motors-Minivan

While BEST didn’t get these exact buses, it did get similar buses.

Read more: BEST’s New AC Buses Are A Delight To Travel On

Now, the most interesting thing I saw there was the Bajaj Qute. Note: It does look cute.

Powered by a 200cc engine that can produce an output of 20bhp, the Qute is classified by the government as a “quadricycle” and therefore can only be used to replace auto-rickshaws.

MakeInIndia-Bajaj-Qute

This is the picture of the Qute that I clicked in 2016. The Qute has received intense criticism, mostly from Bajaj’s peers in the auto industry, especially Piaggio which also manufactures auto-rickshaws. Piaggio in fact wanted the Qute to be deferred by at least two-three years (in 2013) in order to provide a level playing field for auto-rickshaw manufacturers. Others in the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) too lambasted the Qute for myriad reasons, from its weight to its emissions.

However, in late February this year, I was mildly surprised when I boarded one of BEST’s mini-buses at Andheri Station (West). In the middle of the sea of auto-rickshaws, I saw a Qute, with a board inside it saying ऑटो रिक्षा and a sticker indicating that it ran on CNG. While I couldn’t see where the fare-meter was, the vehicle was occupied.

Here is the Qute that I spotted at Andheri.

Bajaj-Qute-Andheri-Station-BESTpedia

When I saw it, I was excited and quickly whipped out my phone and clicked a photo. And naturally, I tweeted it out within minutes.

Let’s hope more such Qutie-pies hit the road soon!

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Featured Image: A blue Bajaj Qute, Bajaj Auto

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