The Amdavad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS)-run Lal Darwaja bus station, which was built in 1955 at the heart of the city was shut down in 2021 to undergo a major renovation in order to match up with its surroundings, the historic city of Old Ahmedabad which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage City in 2017.
Originally proposed in the 2000s under the Walled City Revitalisation Project by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the project’s plans saw multiple changes including the addition of administrative offices in the upper level before the plan was shelved. Under the Vijay Rupani government, it finally received a green signal along with a budgetary sanction of ₹5.72 crore in 2017 but was delayed due to lack of approvals from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), whose approval was necessary due to the presence of several monuments within a 2,000 metre radius.
The foundation stone was laid on 8 April 2017 by Rupani. After numerous delays, the project got ahead in 2021 and was to be complete by 2022 but was finally inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on 5 June 2023.
Lal Darwaja Bus Station (DeshGujarat/Twitter)
Spread over 11,583 square metres, the bus station is a two-storeyed structure with lighting to match the aesthetics. A proper drainage system and reinforced cement concrete (RCC) roads were also laid. The stone –Bansi Pahadpur stone – for the building have come from Bharatpur in Rajasthan which helps in lowering the temperature inside the bus terminal. Seating arrangements involve decorative bus shelters. LED display-based Passenger Information Systems (PIS) have also been installed. Facilities for administrative purposes such as a control room, a meeting hall as well as solar power have also been set up. 35 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras for security have been installed. The revamped terminal has a capacity of 503 buses with nearly 80 routes touching it. Nearly 1.95 lakh passengers are expected to use Lal Darwaza daily.
The tiles in the bus station have been carved to resemble the Siddi Saiyyed Jali which is the unofficial symbol of the city. The pillars are round and have been designed in the style of those present at havelis while lighting is provided by lanterns and railings are leaf-patterned.
The building is six metres tall and permission from the ASI has been secured to increase the height to 12 metres if expansion is required.
You can watch a walk through of the bus terminal (in Hindi) on YouTube thanks to Youtuber DeepsBeenHere:
Featured Image: Front facade of the Lal Darwaja Bus Station tweeted by Bhupendra Patel.
If you drive a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG), you would know the travails of standing in a queue to fill up, especially during weekends.
Last month, Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) and the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking announced a partnership wherein users can download the Tez app and book a slot for filling up their vehicles with gas. The service was initially made available at BEST’s Ghatkopar bus depot and has since been extended to the Oshiwara-Goregaon depots as well and according to MGL, will soon be available across all BEST depots.
You can download the MGL Tez app for Android phones form Google Play here: MGL-Tez on Google Play. There is no iOS app available as of now.
Below is a copy of BEST’s Press Note from 18 May.
BEST’s Press Note announcing the launch of the MGL Tez facility
BEST had earlier announced that it would set up charging points for electric vehicles at its depots which made sense given the aggressive push the undertaking made towards procuring electric buses. CNG filling stations also makes sense given that over half of the fleet is powered by CNG and both plans work as a great plan for BEST to augment is revenue streams and monetise its land assets. BEST had also announced that it would charge its electric buses using rooftop solar power generated by the undertaking’s power consumers.
Featured Image: BEST and MGL’s launch event (Photo: BEST via Twitter)
Did you know that there was actually a sport of double-decker bus racing? No kidding here, it’s true.
Between 1958 and 2007, the BBC ran a sports programme titled Grandstand. Rival channel ITV decided to get its own sports programme, titled World of Sports from 1965 to 1985. Part of the programming involved racing sports that were uncommon with the British audience at the time, such as ice speedway – a form of motorcycle racing on frozen surfaces – and NASCAR stock car racing.
In 1982, an interesting race was a part of the line-up. Double decker bus racing. You can see the video below.
World of Sports Double Decker Bus Racing
Now, according to a comment on Reddit by one hoksworthwipple, this is from 1982. The buses are Diamler Fleetlines from the N series (or N registration from 1975) and were operated by Transport for London (TfL). The race was held in Northampton. The event was hosted by Dickie Davis and the commentators were from the stock car racing staff and were Nigel King, Ron Pickering, or Frank Bough. The race was won by Terry Tellyn and bus number 4 was driven by Chris Critchett. It was also alleged that the race was fixed and buses bearing the sponsorship of Acorn Computers were to come first.
Now, this brings forth an interesting proposition. Mumbai’s remaining double decker buses are due to be phased out by the end of this year. Why not have a double decker race in India? India has three major racing tracks – Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, the Madras International Circuit in Chennai and the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore. I jokingly suggested this idea to several busfans and got mixed results. While Jarvik was supportive of the idea, Yash fears that the buses could tip over. I was also told that BEST currently does so, mostly on routes between Kurla and Santacruz.
Featured Image: DMS1599 stands in the station on a 179 service to Barking at Chingford Bus Station on 19 April 1980. (Photo: Martin Addison / Chingford Bus Station / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking is looking at the possibility of running water taxi services between Gateway of India and various parts of Navi Mumbai including CBD Belapur, Uran and the Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT).
According to a report in the Times of India, the undertaking is in talks with the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) and the Union Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways (MoSPW) to study the requirements for running a water taxi service. According to the report, a water taxi boat costs ₹1.5 crore and can carry up to 12 passengers. With a budget deficit estimate of ₹2,000 crore in 2022-2033 and just a monthly grant of ₹60 crore per month from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), BEST’s parent body, the plan is currently in choppy waters.
BEST had launched a ferry service from Marve to Manori in the 1990s that was active in the early to mid 2000s. Here is a photograph of the same from 2005.
BEST’s water ferry service across the Manori Creek in 2005 (Photo: Nichalp/Wikimedia Commons)
A roll-on/roll-off or Ro-Ro system was flagged off in 2020 by Uddhav Thackery and Ajit Pawar but that wound up services eventually.
Mumbai’s water transport system is a fledgling system, mostly consisting of boats being used by fisherfolk or for tourist purposes, mainly on the Gateway of India to Gharapuri Island (Elephanta Caves) route. Between 1994 and 1999, hovercraft services were operated by Mahindra and Mahindra between Vashi and CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai and the Gateway on the island city. Services, however, wound up due to lack of proper permanent infrastructure. In November 2021, hovercraft were spotted off the coast of Navi Mumbai but that seems to have been defence-related.
In 2012, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) decided to explore the public-private participation (PPP) model which didn’t work out. The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) meanwhile set up the the Mahrashtra Water Transport Corporation (MWTC) to as an SPV which would establish the required infrastructure while private players took up operations.
In an article for Swarajya, titled Here’s How Mumbai Can Create A Robust Water Transit System that I had written in 2018, I had explored the different ways that Mumbai could take up the system, largely based on the prevalent system in New York City back then.
I will write a follow-up to this on the different models that can be explored, ranging from the Hooghly Nadi Jalpath Paribahan Samabay Samiti Limited in Kolkata, the Staten Island Ferry, NYC Ferry, NY Waterway and New York Water Taxi in New York City, the London River Bus, as well as the Kochi Water Metro from Kochi.
Remember the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking’s Volvo fleet? That’s right, those six diesel-powered, single-door Volvo buses that were always covered in advertisements, mostly seen on AS-4 or Fort Pheri?
A little backstory here. In 2010, BEST had signed a deal with a firm named Asian Concierge, who would purchase 50 Volvo B7RLE buses and provide them to BEST in lieu of advertising rights on the body of the buses for 10 years. The first two buses were inducted November 2010, four more joined shortly after and that was that. The remaining 44 buses, which were to join BEST’s fleet by March 2011 never arrived.
The six buses were all housed at the Oshiwara Depot and mostly operated on AS-4 between Oshiwara Depot and Backbay Depot. Sometimes they operated on A-74Express from Oshiwara Depot to NSCI Worli (Nehru Planetarium/Lotus). Instead of idling at Backbay depot, they were often deployed on Fort Pheri-1 AC that ran in a circle in and around Fort.
BEST’s Volvo operating on Fort Pheri – 1 AC (Photo: Superfast1111 via Wikimedia Commons)
BEST’s fleet strength at that time was near 4,700 buses, which included the 272 (in)famous Cerita fleet. According to Sanjay Potnis, then chairman of the BEST committee, BEST did not purchase any Volvo buses as they did not have the budget for it.
Since 2017, these buses were just lying at Oshiwara Depot. A photo of them in a dilapidated condition appeared on some busfanning groups in 2021 but I was unable to secure permission to use them publicly.
All photographs and even Google Earth footage showed only four buses parked at the Oshiwara Depot. On a side note, Google Earth is now limited historical imagery of India to 2017-2018 while imagery of the years before that is available for other countries.
In March 2023 (two months ago), it emerged that at least two of the six buses had been junked. Fellow busfan Swapnil Patil posted two photographs of 2705/OSH and 2703/OSH at a scrap yard in Taloja. You can see the images below:
BEST Volvo 2703/OSH at the Taloja scrapyard (Photo: Swapnil Patil, all rights reserved, used with permission)BEST Volvo 2705/OSH at the Taloja scrapyard (Photo: Swapnil Patil, all rights reserved, used with permission)
These two photographs really break my heart. These buses were barely 13 years old and could have run for their full fifteen years. The disastrous double fare hike of 2015 made AC buses more expensive that auto-rickshaws in the city and the 2016 rollback, while successful was too little, too late. Asian Concierge seems to have gone under liquidation, and I can’t seem to find the original firm on Tofler, although there is an Asian Concierge Transport that was incorporated in 2016.
That’s all from me for now. Let’s hope common sense hits BEST soo and they increase their now drastically dwindling fleet of buses as quickly as possible.
Featured Image: BEST AS-4 at Mahim (Photo: Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
In a bid to modernise and monetise its real estate, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking is looking to hire the World Bank Group’s member organisation International Finance Corporation (IFC) as its advisory partner, reports the Indian Express. The upgradation will receive financing from the World Bank and was confirmed by General Manager Lokesh Chandra.
Unlike previous monetisaton plans, BEST is looking to go in for competitive bidding this time to ensure that the undertaking receives its revenues. The Kurla and Oshiwara depots and Mahim Bus Station were handed out to private parties and at least Kurla and Mahim have been redeveloped but BEST is yet to receive the ₹300 crore revenue due to the builders landing up in front of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In these projects, part of the land is awarded to private parties to build on. Since permissions were granted in the initial stage, development on the commercial sections were carried out first.
Currently only one depot has been completely redeveloped – the Kurla Depot, located at the junction of Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg (LBS Marg) and Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR). The depot was damaged in the floods of 2005 and was subsequently redeveloped by Kanakia as part of its project Kanakia Zillion.
Among the bus stations that were redeveloped, there is the Seven Bunglows (Saath Bangla) Bus Station on JP Road in Andheri (West) that was redeveloped in 2004-2005 as the G7 Shopping Centre. There is the long-delayed redevelopment of the Marol Maroshi Bus Station near the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri (East) as well. I’m personally not aware of who the developers of these two are. Kanakia was awarded redevelopment of two bus stations, the Versova-Yari Road Bus Station in Andheri (West) which has been redeveloped into a residential project called Kanakia Hollywood with a bus station on the ground floor and the Mahim Bus Station in Mahim (West) which was redeveloped as part of Kanakia Miami.
Featured Image:Kurla Depot at Kanakia Zillion (Photo: Architect Rushikesh H)
In a bid to make travel by buses a little more pleasant, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has banned loud music and conversations in buses after a deluge of complaints from passengers.
A notification was issued on 24 April in the regard and under the new rules all passengers watching videos, listening to music, or having conversations on their phone must use headphones. The undertaking has also said that passengers causing inconvenience can have action taken against them under section 38/112 of the Bombay Police Act of 1951.
BEST has announced that a notification regarding this will be displayed on all buses while all staff (including those on wet-lease buses) will be made aware of it.
While the move is undoubtedly a good one, especially for those listening to music or watching videos, it makes limited sense to those having phone calls. Unless the phone is on speakerphone, using a phone regularly shouldn’t be too loud except when the passenger is shouting into the phone. At the same time, due to the preponderance of noise-cancellation headphones, people using headphones can be louder than those without them.
On the plus side, passengers can now listen to the noise made by the bus itself, for some of them (especially a lot of the electric buses) are extremely noisy.
Featured Image: BEST prohibits loud phone conversations, audio and video on mobile phones on the buses, mandates use of headphones by Srikanth Ramakrishnan. (P.S: It took me 20 minutes to make this image using Microsoft PowerPoint)
Double Decker buses have been the pride of Mumbai for decades. Talks for procuring new Double Deckers (DDs) began in late 2020 when a tender for 50 Bharat Stage 6 (BS6) Non-AC DDs was floated by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) Undertaking. Unable to serve justice to BEST’s vision for electrification of the bus fleet, this tender was scrapped and a fresh tender for 200 electric AC DDs was floated.
On 18 August 2022, Ashok Leyland unveiled the SWITCH EiV22 – India’s first electric double decker. The launch event took place in presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, Mumbai. After conducting trials with the prototype, it took five months and 22 days for the Switch EiV22 to finally enter service with BEST on route 115 (earlier known as Special 1) from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point. After travelling on the first day – first run and on the Heritage Route, this is my review of the newly launched double decker bus. For the Marathi-speaking audience, I have covered the same in a YouTube video. You can view the video at the end of this article.
Overview of the specifications
Driver’s dashboard of the Switch EiV 22 (Photo: Gandharva Purohit for BESTpedia)
First things first – the bus can seat 65 passengers in a 2×2 configuration. This seating capacity is equivalent to a Tata Starbus Urban EV and Olectra K7D put together. Two doors are present to provide a smooth movement of passengers. The seats built by TM Automotive – a joint venture of Tata Autocomp with Magna International, are green in colour which recalls the colour scheme of those old bench-type seats of BEST Buses. A stairway at the rear door and another behind the driver cabin is intended to eliminate the use of common entry and exit. There are three seats in the front, offering a clear view. The buses are locked at a top speed of 50km/hr and are fitted with protective rods at the front to avoid direct contact with the trees en route. These modern double decker buses are expected to be housed at Colaba, Kurla, Dharavi and Majas depots (subject to change during procurement) to operate on routes where BEST utilized their bygone BS2 double deckers.
Pricing and Frequency
As of now, there are just two double decker buses in service which limits the frequency to 30 minutes on A115, 45 to 55 minutes on A138, and 1 hour on the Heritage Route. The ticket price for A115 and A138 is kept as same as the basic fare of an AC Bus – starting at ₹6 only. When new, the first electric double decker was housed at the Anik Depot for charging and overnight maintenance.
The electric DDs are supposed to ply on A115 and A138 on weekdays (Monday to Friday) and on Weekends they ply on the Heritage Route from Museum (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya). The Heritage Route is a round trip on a Hop-On Hop-Off (HoHo) basis that covers the Gateway of India and Marine Drive till Girgaon Chowpatty and back to Dr SP Mukherjee Chowk (Museum). A ticket costs ₹150 for the upper deck and ₹75 for Lower Deck.
From 1 March 2023 onwards, a few more services were added on A115 and the Heritage Tour since the charging infrastructure was ready at Colaba Depot, thereby saving time and range which the bus would otherwise spend between Fort and Anik Depot. All 200 double decker buses were expected to join the fleet by Monsoon, but the delivery is taking longer than expected.
Inaugural Experience
Switch EiV 22 along with a Tata Starbus EV (Photo: Gandharva Purohit for BESTpedia)
On the morning of 21 February 2023, I reached Mumbai CSMT at 8:20 am, ready to be among the passengers who would be lucky to travel in the brand-new double decker Bus on its inaugural run. The bus was parked right in the middle of the busy bus station and was scheduled to depart towards NCPA at 8:45 am. It was an absolute mess, being a weekday where buses on 111, A115, and A138 were flooded with passengers making their way to the offices. I entered the bus, tapped in and rushed to the upper deck to grab a foremost seat. Sweets were distributed on the occasion and our bus started for NCPA in the next few minutes. The ride was just 10 to 15 minutes long with journalists from three media agencies reporting onboard. I took the same bus for my return journey back to Mumbai CSMT and waited for the next trip, to get a good click of the exteriors of the bus.
Heritage Experience
As of now, the Heritage Route is the only ideal journey to explore the electric double decker to its full potential. Since you spend an hour onboard the bus, the pros and cons come to your notice – more on that later. The Heritage journey commences from Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Chowk (Museum) and passes through the Gateway of India followed by Mantralaya, NCPA and a run through Marine Drive up to Chowpatty, returning via Churchgate, encircling Oval Maidan, passing in front of the UNESCO World Heritage building of Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, a slight left at Hutatma Chowk towards Jehangir Art Gallery and terminating back at Museum.
This plan was executed with a group of infrastructure enthusiasts and busfans. Our driver comfortably handled the bus through the roads and took brief halts at Gateway of India, Nariman Point and Girgaon Chowpatty. The conductor made sure no one is left behind before signalling the driver to proceed. We were lucky to have the driver of the first electric double decker bus – Shri Yuvraj Khandge onboard along with us. A video byte of the crew was taken by Saurabh Raut right after the completion of our journey.
Cons: A lot of them….
On the Heritage Route, a passenger tends to notice the minute details like seat comfort, gangway width and height while alighting and boarding at various points. To begin with, all the seats are sloping downwards and there are just three seats provided at the front instead of four, on the upper deck. The design of this particular double decker is inspired by the electric double decker buses running in London. Thus, one can see centralized air conditioning onboard, instead of adjustable AC vents on each seat, which are essential for hot and humid climatic conditions. Lower deck seats present near the front staircase are creating issues for passenger movement, while the bellpull near the front exit is making passengers vulnerable to hurting their heads if in case there is sudden braking. Kailash Korde has highlighted this issue in both buses on his twitter thread. Issues are not limited to the passenger side since the wrongly placed rear view mirror is creating problems for the drivers to focus on the road while driving. A wrongly placed CCTV camera near the rear door creates a problem due to the partition present on the lower deck.
Another con of the bus is its ground clearance. Within its first week of service, the rear panel of this bus scraped the ground while crossing a ramp built near Vidhan Bhavan Metro Station.
Conclusion
The older , open-air double-deckers operated by BEST (Photo: Gandharva Purohit for BESTpedia)
The market for electric double decker buses in India is limited with Switch Mobility being the sole active player, which makes it too early to judge. In case Olectra introduces the K10 Double Decker, there is a scope for competition against the 150 km range offered by the Switch EiV22. Since the double decker buses in Mumbai are the first of their kind, Switch Mobility has a lot to improve for years to come. Delay in the delivery of buses is an issue faced by nearly all electric automobile manufacturers in India, due to an ever-rising demand for the same.
Ashok Leyland has been a leading player in heavy vehicles and the hopes are high for Switch Mobility to excel in this electric vehicle boom. Recently, BEST has floated tenders for 700 electric double decker AC buses and 50 electric open deck buses –where the lower deck will be Air-Conditioned – for which the bidding process is underway. Once all these buses are procured, the total fleet of double decker buses in Mumbai will increase to 950 buses (including the 50 open deck buses). The existing Bharat Stage 3 (BS III) double deckers are limited to 48 and all of them will be scrapped within a year. The fate of 2,100 Olectra K9D depends on the final verdict by the Supreme Court of India as this case is crucial for the future of BEST. As of today, the Undertaking continues to scrap its BS III Tata CNG Buses with every passing month. The second half of 2023 will be among the toughest phase with the current fleet management. Procurement of new buses is a need of the hour for BEST.
For the Marathi-speaking audience:
Featured Image: Switch EiV 22 (Photo: Gandharva Purohit for BESTpedia)
The last two months has not been good for the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.
First, the undertaking junked the wet-lease agreement with one player due to the buses being in bad condition and lying unused at the depots. As per the report in the Times of India, no details of the contractor were mentioned and it was a very ambiguous article. However, thanks to a few friends in the bus fanning community, it came to light that these buses were operated by MP Enterprises and Associates (MPG) out of the Wadala Depot. In early 2020, these buses operated on routes in Wadala and Andheri (East). Around 280 buses were taken of the roads.
As if this wasn’t enough to add to the city’s woes, BEST also withdrew 400 of the CNG-powered Tata buses. I had reviewed the midi-buses operated out of the Mumbai Central depot too in 2020. These buses were operated by Mateshwari Urban Transport (MUP). The reason behind it was the buses catching fire. The first was on 23 January between Santacruz and Bandra, followed by another on 11 February at Chakala and yet another on 22 February, the last one near Agarkar Chowk.
Over the last month, BEST has ben slowly reintroducing these buses after thorough safety inspections with 10-10 buses from each of the depots – Majas, Dharavi, Santacruz and Pratiksha Nagar and it was reported on 14 March that 369 of the 400 buses were back on the roads.
In order to make up for the lack of buses, BEST pushed in a few off-links into service.
Below are some snaps of various Offlinks on different routes across the city, clicked by Sahil Pusalkar.
Below are the following: The first is bus 5410 of the Dindoshi Depot operating on route C-12. Next is 5219 of the Dindoshi Depot as well, also on C-12. Then there is 5188 of the Magathane Depot, this one too on C-12. Then there is 5278 of Dindoshi on 525 and 5225 of Dindoshi on 415.
BEST Offlink buses (Sahil Pusalkar)
The next lot is 1741 of the Mulund depot on 492, followed by 5414 of Dindoshi on 415. Then there is 566 of the Kurla depot on 308, followed by 1919 from Majas on 340. Then there is 5108 from Ghatkopar, also 340.
BEST Offlink buses (Sahil Pusalkar)
In the third lot, there is 4554 of the Central depot on C-1, followed by 1455 of the Goregaon depot on 28. There is 5531 from Wadala on 201, 1893 from Bandra 255 and 6599 from Worli on 169.
BEST Offlink buses (Sahil Pusalkar)
The next set of buses consist of 5157 of Dindoshi on 348, 6625 of Bandra on 255, 6664 of Worli on 172, 6615, also of Worli, again on 172 and 6625 of Bandra again on 348 this time.
BEST Offlink buses (Sahil Pusalkar)
The last set of buses are 5295 of Dindoshi on 348, 6552 of Central on C-14, 1927 of Dharavi, 5519 of Ghatkopar and 1512 of Kurla, all on 27.
BEST Offlink buses (Sahil Pusalkar)
That’s all for the time being, do follow Sahil on Instagram here: @sahilpusalkar.
Featured Image: Buses at Agarkar Chowk (Srikanth Ramakrishnan)
It’s official, Mumbai’s first electric double deckers are to hit the city’s streets on 21 February 2023. The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking put out a press note announcing the details.
BEST’s press note announcing launch of the electric double decker services
The bus will operate on route A-115 between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) from 8.45am with a frequency of 30 minutes. On weekends, the bus will operate on the heritage track from 9am onwards.
Each bus will be conductor-less and use Chalo’s Tap-In, Tap-Out system, thus requiring all users to either have a Chalo Card or the Chalo App.
