As part of a pilot project in Millenium City Gurgaon (Gurugram), the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) and ride-sharing aggregator platform Uber have entered into a partnership. Commuters will now be able to book and reserve seats for themselves in select GMCBL buses. The pilot project will allow commuters to book tickets in the corporation’s air-conditioned buses on two routes. Commuters can book seats and follow the live location of a bus on the Uber app, much like they do with cabs on the app.
According to Uber, the company hopes to incentivise the shift to shared mobility using this project and encourage public transport. Uber hopes to use the data to provide better commuting options to passengers while also help the transport body in understanding and predicting passenger demand.
All seats on the bus will be reserved and there will be no standees.
According to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the service, known as Gurugaman Plus, will operate on the following two routes:
Badshahpur Bus Stand to DLF Cyber Park (Shankar Chowk) via HUDA City Centre Metro Station
BPTP Astaire Garden (Sector 70) to DLF Cyber Park via Golf Course Road.
Services will be available between 7am and 12pm (noon) and 3pm to 8pm daily.
Featured Image: GMCBL’s Gurugaman Plus bus
Do enjoy your ride on the Gurugaman Plus bus, but please do take precautions.
To mark India’s 75th year of Independence, the Birhanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking arranged its buses at the Mumbai Central Depot to form the number 75, similar to its sibling the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT). While the NMMT paraded its Ashok Leyland JanBus and JBM EcoLife fleet, BEST decided to do so with its Tata CNG fleet.
Take a look at the pictures below, as shared by BEST on Twitter.
BEST buses at Mumbai Central Depot parked to form the number 75
Here is a more expansive view of the same formation before completion.
BEST buses forming number 75 at Mumbai Central Depot
Along with this, the undertaking also lit up Parivahan Bhavan, (Transport House) at its headquarters in Colaba in the tricolour. You can see it here:
It’s 15 August 2022, India’s Independence Day. To mark the occasion, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking did something very interesting.
Here is what they did. Images were shared by the NMMT on Twitter.
Buses at the Ghansoli Depot were parked to form the number “75”, first with just their red buses and again, by colouring the roofs of buses with the tricolour.
Check it out below.
Fisheye view of NMMT buses in special formation at Ghansoli DepotNMMT buses in the special formation with the tricolour at Ghansoli DepotNMMT buses in special formation at Ghansoli Depot
Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking had its headquarters (Electric House) lit up in the tricolour. Do take a look below:
Paraivahan Bhavan (Transport House) lit up in the tricolour for Independence Day
Prime Minister Modi’s call for Har Ghar Tiranga as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav has seen a phenomenal response.
I hope you celebrated Independence Day with much fanfare, but till we are done with the pandemic, please do take precautions.
Over the course of the last two weeks, I’ve been traveling a lot in MTC buses. During my rides, I got to try out the Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (MTC, fkaPallavan) not so new air-conditioned buses.
These silver-coloured buses are Ashok Leyland buses built by Gemini Coach Builders in Karur. Introduced in January 2020 by former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, each bus costs ₹36 lakh and has a fare between ₹15 and ₹60. The buses have been allotted to different depots, I myself have boarded them from both the Adayar and Anna Nagar depots (AD and AN respectively).
They initially ran on route 570s between MGR Koyambedu (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus/CMBT) and Siruseri IT Park and 91 from Thiruvanmiyur to Tambaram. They were later on extended to other routes such as 102 from Broadway to Kelambakkam. These buses marked the return of AC buses after a gap of one and a half years. Prior to this, MTC used to operate Volvo B7RLE buses till July 2018 with a minimum fare of ₹28.
Now coming to the inside of the bus.
Interior of MTC’s AC bus belonging to the Adayar depot running route 570S from MGR Koyambedu to Sirucheri IT Park (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
One thing I’ve observed about new MTC buses (and their counterparts across Tamil Nadu) is the tricolour LED display. Unlike the standard display that usually has only orange as a colour, these displays have three colours. The route number on the left-hand side is in red, the destination on the upper half of the remaining space is in green and the route underneath that is shown in white. There are two different manufacturers of these displays. One is Hosur-based Argee Equipment which supplies the displays for some of the new non-AC red buses. The remaining buses and the AC buses use displays manufactured by Coimbatore-based Wintra Engineering, who sells it under the brand name Rolls Tec Digital Passenger Information System.
Unfortunately the bus doesn’t have any internal display that shows which stop is arriving or anything. Neither is there an announcement system inside the bus. You’ll have to rely on common sense or the conductor shouting out the name of the stop.
Like all MTC buses, there is a single seat perpendicular and facing the gangway near the rear door for the conductor to sit on. All passenger seats and the conductor seat are super-plush and extremely comfortable. They are manufactured by Karur-based Sastha Seating. However, due to this, the gangway is slightly narrow and leg space is quite cramped. Some buses have different seats. These are manufactured by Swadzim, Poland-based STER seats. They are either STER’s 7T1 or Dynamic 20 seats.
Like all newer MTC buses, this one is also pretty high built, requiring you to climb a few tall steps to board and disembark. Not very accessible to be fair. The interesting thing however, is that there are two sets of string LED lights affixed to the steps which light up when the door opens, making it very convenient.
The biggest blunder in the bus is the presence of four-bar vertical grab poles near each door with one in the middle of the bus. These are similar to the ones in the Alstom-built Chennai metro and narrows the gangway further, making it sometimes difficult to cross without bumping into a fellow passenger. A single row of transparent plastic grab handles is there for passengers.
There are no luggage racks, as with most intra-city buses and unlike other AC buses (Volvo, Corona, Olectra, Tata, Force Motors, et al), the A/C vents are on the roof of the bus. This makes it out of reach for most passengers making it slightly difficult to close them or open them. On the bright side, it also makes them less vulnerable to damage. The air-conditioning itself is quite powerful and good to handle Chennai’s weather. No comparisons with them Purple Faeries here. There are no charging points or USB ports in the bus either.
The most fascinating thing I saw in this bus was in the seat directly behind the front door. The window seat has a metal ring attached to the wall of the bus meant for Divyang passengers who use crutches to hold them there.
Overall the bus is pretty comfortable, although it tends to get crowded really fast. There are no passes valid for this bus, all passengers have to buy a ticket. There are no daily passes available, MTC having done away with them after the 2018 fare hike.
Featured Image: MTC’s AC bus belonging to the Adayar depot running route 570S from MGR Koyambedu to Sirucheri IT Park (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia, available on the Wikimedia Commons)
If you are stepping out, do note that while masks are no longer mandatory, please stay safe, better safe than sorry.
Transit fans of Maharashtra in the last one week have been celebrating for multiple reasons. The first was the obvious one, with former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis returning to power, although some of us (me included) are disappointed that he’s Deputy CM and not the CM. The second, was the return of Ashwini Bhide to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), as well as the government’s focus on finishing the project with the depot at the Aarey Milk Colony (it’s not a forest). While the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government has also cleared all hurdles for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor, another small but significant development has gone unchanged.
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Dr Shrikar Paradeshi has been appointed as a Secretary to the Deputy CM’s office.
Who is Dr Shrikar Paradeshi?
A 2001-batch IAS officer, Shrikar Paradeshi has held numerous posts in the past. He was the Municipal Commissioner of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corportation from 2012 to 2014 where he earned the nickname ‘Demolition Man‘ for razing down illegally-constructed structures. He was also briefly the managing director (MD) of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). During his tenure at PCMC, he introduced Sarathi — (System of Assisting Residents and Tourists through Helpline Information). However, he proved to be too efficient, leading to his transfer to the State Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps by the then Prithviraj Chavan-led government.
Paradeshi was subsequently appointed MD of PMPML again before he was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Post this, he did his master’s in public administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was then posted as MD of Maharashtra-based SICOM for a month in 2021. Post this, he went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland to do a master’s in public health.
Dr Paradeshi and the PMPML
Dr Paradeshi’s first stint in the PMPML was in July 2013 when he took two key decisions. The first was to rationalise all bus fares into multiples of ₹5 in order to plug revenue leakages and solve the issue of spare change. He focused on repairing buses and had officials visit different bus depots to ensure that buses departed on time.
His second innings with the PMPML began in December 2014 after eight NGOs approached chief minister Fadnavis with a demand for a “competent and result-oriented” IAS officer to lead the organisation. After taking charge, he began the process of getting the city’s bus fleet fully operational. There were around 160 buses that were lying in various depots that required repairs but weren’t, for want of funds. He had the PMPML set up a separate bank account that would deposit 6 per cent of daily revenues which would go towards repairing buses and managed to get to improve the functional fleet from 60 per cent to 75 per cent in three months.
In a public interaction, he stated his plans to set up a new website, proposed a mobile app and announced goals and targets for revenue collections, passengers and even advertisements.
Sadly, he ended up getting called to the Prime Minister’s office in April 2015.
If you are stepping out, do note that while masks are no longer mandatory, please stay safe, better safe than sorry.
With the formal launch of commercial operations (albeit with a lot of technical snags) of the Red and Yellow lines (Line 2A and Line 7) of Mumbai Metro on Gudi Padwa this week, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also set up a few new bus shelters outside the metro stations.
These new bus shelters feature a map of the two metro lines in question, feature space for wheelchair-users and interestingly, have the bus routes marked on the road surface as well.
New bus shelter at Virvani Estate near Aarey Metro Station (Anand/@aa_G7460 on Twitter)
According to the images and the description of the bus stop (written on the bus stop itself), they feature USB ports for charging phones, CCTV cameras, and are dedicated to Divyang users. The bus shelter itself has been designed by an agency called Aaartist, which has designed signboards for several railway stations and other prominent properties around Maharashtra.
Road Marking at Virvani Estate Bus Stop (Anand/@aa_G7460 on Twitter)
As you can see in the above two images, bus routes have been marked on the side of the road. Oddly, while Limited Stop routes (226, 460 and 706) have been marked in red, the AC (A-488) and Express (C-15, C71, C-72) routes remain marked in black along with the sole regular route (225). Now, at the bus stop itself, there are purple line markings on the floor that correspond to the dotted line that separates each route in the second line. Clearly, this is meant to be a queue management system, which says रांगेत चला, Crowd Management System, Mind Set.
Let’s hope that buses follow this demarcation when it comes to stopping. We’ve all seen how Pune’s BRTS drivers initially struggled to stop the bus at the exact stop for the doors to open.
Let’s hope for better bus stops in the future. In the mean time, do read this: Building a Smart Bus Stop.
Featured Image: Aarey Metro Station by Gandharva Purohit.
If you are stepping out, do note that while masks are no longer mandatory, the new XE variant of the Wuhan Virus is making the rounds. Stay safe, better safe than sorry.
In his bid to revamp the image of the Birhanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking and promote Mumbai as an “always awake” city, state minister Aaditya Thackeray had in 2017 proposed to allow more establishments to remain open. Back then, I had written a post asking when more public transport would be made available at night. You can read it here: More Nightlife In Mumbai Is Great But Can We Also Focus On Improved Public Transport?
Now, nearly four and a half years later, BEST has announced that it will operate a few buses between midnight and 5am in the morning starting from 7 March 2022. BEST has shared a list of bus routes along with a map.
Buses will have standard fare and can be flagged by showing your hand.
BEST Press Note on Night Routes
As per the press note released by BEST, the bus routes that will operate at night are:
1 from Electric House to Mahim Bus Station
66Ltd from Electric House to Rani Lakshmibai Chowk
202Ltd from Mahim Bus Station to Poisar Depot
302 from Rani Lakshmibai Chowk to Maharana Pratap Chowk (Mulund)
305 from Backbay Depot to Rani Lakshmibai Chowk
440Ltd from Mahim Bus Station to Borivili Station (West) via the Domestic and International Terminal (T1 and T2) of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
BEST also shared a map of the six routes in question.
BEST Map of Night Routes
While this is undoubtedly a good move, there are a few questions.
The first is why so late? Aaditya Thackeray first announced plans for allowing establishments at night in 2017 itself. Back then, he said that this was planned from 2013. It took nine years for anything to happen on the ground? BEST, as a municipal entity has been under the MCGM/BMC for a long time and the municipal corporation in turn has been ruled by Thackeray’s Shiv Sena for over 25 years.
The second is, why the disproportionate bias towards South Bombay (SoBo) over the suburbs? BEST in the last two years have been favouring SoBo whether it is the AC buses or electric buses.
The third question is, why only buses? Why not the Metro or Monorail which are bound to serve people faster and better? Of course, talking about the metro and the current government in the same sentence is a joke.
The timing of this is pretty obvious however. Elections to the corporation are due in a month or so and the Sena is desperate to win. Its former partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made major inroads in Mumbai and defeated the Sena in several wards in a neck-to-neck battle in the 2017 municipal election where they were just two seats behind the Sena.
Featured Image: A BEST bus parked at night at Mulund. (Image: Gandharva Purohit)
If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Maharashtra is still the top state by total cases and deaths.
After dilly-dallying for months, the Delhi Transport Corporation got its first electric bus on 18 January 2022, amidst much fanfare (for one single bus). Of course, given that it is Delhi, the media can’t be far behind, can it? In an article titled On board Delhi’s first electric bus: ‘Noise-free, easy to drive, futuristic’, the Indian Express highlighted the advantages of the singular bus and added that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal planned to add 300 buses by April out of a planned 1,500 buses under the Central Government’s Grand Challenge scheme.
Of course, its Delhi, so there has to be some controversy right? Rohini MLA Vijendar Gupta has approached the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office alleging a scam in the procurement of 1,000 buses and Baijal in turn has asked the Home Ministry to investigate the matter.
The DTC currently has 3,760 buses while the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMMTS) aka the Cluster Buses backs it up with an additional 2,933 buses, thus taking the total to 6.693. DTC has not procured buses in 14 years. The last purchase was made in 2008 when the current fleet of semi low floor buses was procured.
At the start of February, the DTC sent a proposal to the transport department to conduct a feasibility study on procurement of double-decker buses. The DTC hopes to procure at least 100 electric double-deckers. Under the Grand Challenge, the Central Government’s Convergence Energy Services Limited has allotted 1,500 electric single-decker buses and 100 electric double-deckers for Delhi. DTC wants the Government of NCT Delhi (GNCTD) to study whether these buses will be feasible for Delhi’s roads.
Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gehlot made a claim that Delhi would be the first in the country to deploy electric buses on such a large scale while referring to the 1,500 buses. It is important to note that other cities are racing ahead, notably Mumbai under Aaditya Thackeray’s plan for a green transit solution (while conveniently delaying the Mumbai Metro under false pretenses). Mumbai’s BEST had said it would procure 900 electric double-deckers last month while it already has nearly 300 in its current fleet.
Gelhot however noted that Delhi had changed since it last saw double-deckers in 1985-1986 when the DTC came under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and these buses ran under the Suvidha service. With numerous road improvements, including flyovers and underpasses, trees and overhead cables, a proper study would be needed before inducting them into the fleet.
One key concern is the ability of a double-decker electric bus to climb flyovers while operating at full capacity.
If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Delhi is not far from Maharashtra in terms of positive cases and deaths.
A week after BEST announced plans to procure 800 double-decker buses and NMMT announced its intentions to begin trials, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has announced its interest in the same.
Double-deckers were first operated in Pune in 1984 and were taken off the roads in 1995 due to operating costs and and accidents. I’m not sure if it was the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) or Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Transport (PCMT) that operated them. At least six routes were operated on the Mumbai-Pune Road.
PMPML officials have stated that they have met with manufacturers of electric buses on the matter and keen on pursuing it due to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s alleged interest in double-decker buses.
The Corporation is looking at procuring buses on a wet-lease model, similar to BEST, while it will provide the required infrastructure for it. However, they have also agreed that operating double-decker buses isn’t an easy task and would require significant planning, particularly in the routes.
Note: After a little digging, I found more information. The double-deckers run earlier were operated by the PMT and not the PCMT. According to a DNAreport, PMPML originally considered bringing back double-decker buses to the fleet in late 2014, however the proposal did not move forward much. The criteria for re-induction of these buses was due to wider roads and increased congestion.
Another proposal was mooted in 2017, this time in electric form. It had the backing of both the BJP-led PMC and PCMC along with the backing of then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Central Government.
Let’s hope PMPML is successful with its double-decker plans. The city currently has India’s largest fleet of electric buses.
If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Maharashtra is still the top state by total cases and deaths.
With the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking’s double-decker fleet strength going down from 120 to 48 in the last two years, the city’s iconic bus might stage a comeback soon.
The BEST committee has approved the procurement of 900 air-conditioned (AC), electric double-decker buses on a wet lease for 12 years to alleviate the city’s traffic woes.
BEST’s original plan included inducting 2,100 AC electric buses that included 200 double-deckers. The undertaking wants to convert 50 per cent of its fleet to electric by 2023 and go completely electric by 2027. As part of this move, it wants to procure 1,400 regular buses, 400 mini-buses and 100 mini-buses, all air-conditioned and electric. However, the number for the double-deckers has now gone up to 900.
The change in procurement has now led to a fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sena in the BEST committee. The BJP has stated that the earlier proposal for 200 buses was to be funded by the Central government’s Ministry of Heavy Industries under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. The BJP has asked where the funding is coming from and has questioned the scope of the tender given that any increase in expenses will have to be borne by BEST. Questions have also been asked how the tender has been merged with the state government’s clean energy policy.
Four manufacturers had evinced interest in the original tender with prices ranging from ₹56 to ₹160 per kilometre. Sources say BEST will likely ask the second bidder to bring in 200 buses while the lowest bidder will supply the rest.
Transport experts have questioned how BEST is able to get double-deckers at such low prices when single-decker buses (AC and electric) cost between ₹54 and ₹72 per kilometre.
Minister Aaditya Thackeray meanwhile took to Twitter to share an image of London’s Metroline Double-Decker buses with the BEST logo (बेस्ट) photoshopped on it, thus misleading many people.
The photoshopped image shared by Aaditya Thackeray
This in turn led to a series of hilarious, satirical tweets with vehicles from across the world being shared as achievements of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.
The best (pun intended) among them was shared by Maithun with a hilarious caption: Under the disable leadership of Priyanka Chaturvedi, Mumbai is all set to get BEST mini flying taxi. Aaditya Thackeray personally monitored the project.
The image shared by Maithun.
Meanwhile, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking, which has been having a golden run with its electric AC fleet, has floated a tender to procure a single electric AC double-decker. The undertaking has said that it wants to run a pilot project and if it is economically viable, it may increase the fleet strength.
The tender document stipulates that NMMT would buy a fully built bus with a 12-year long annual maintenance contract (AMC). The manufacturer would have to provide a two year warranty for the bus and a five-year warranty for the battery while also installing a charging station.
A sad thing to note is that NMMT will soon scrap its 12 Volvo buses as they are more than ten years old and their operating costs have become too high.
To read more humorous and satirical takes on BEST, do check out the Satire section.
Let’s hope BEST gets the new double-deckers without any issues. The political slugfest and sharing of fake images do not bode well for the transport body.
If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Maharashtra is still the top state by total cases and deaths.
Featured Image: Ashok Leyland’s Switch Metrodecker bus
