Today is International Yoga Day, something that was recognised by the United Nations last year.
Not many people are aware of the immense contributions that Yoga has had on Public Transport.
We often hear negative news about Staff and Employees of Transcos allegedly harassing commuters. Sometimes, we also hear about bus drivers moving down people. While, I don’t want to get into the specifics of all of this, let us look into the root cause of all of this.
All of them have a common cause: Stress.
A bus driver and conductors job is most certainly not the easiest task in the world. It requires a lot of skill and patience. Drivers have to put up with traffic jams, negligent and rash drivers, bad roads, and also passengers who don’t board/disembark through proper doorways or at specific bus stops. This adds to a lot of stress.
A conductor has to deal with people not giving change, rude passengers, passengers boarding/disembarking via the wrong pathways or at bus stops, people not moving to emptier sections of the bus, etc. This, again adds to the stress.
Now, multiply these instance by multiple passengers, number of trips, depot officials asking for fuel reports and fare collections, and you have a perfect recipe for a Nervous Breakdown.
To reduce the load on the staff, several Transcos decided to take up Employee Care measures by introducing Yoga, and Meditions sessions.
Others, such as BEST, MSRTC, and BMTC too have had sessions on meditation, anger management, and relaxation to keep staff at ease during long working schedules in order to help reduce stress levels and increase productivity.
Yoga is something we should be proud of. It is pretty much a Soft Power that originated in India. It was earlier laughed off by critics, but today is accepted as an international practice.
Hats off to the government for promoting Yoga as a stress-buster and natural relaxant. If people practiced Yoga on a regular basis, it would help everyone. A stress-free and relaxed person has the ability to keep calm in tense situations, and altercations may be avoided. If everyone is in such a state, imagine the transport scenario will also be one which people would look forward to.
A lot has been said about Smart Cities and Smart Transport. Earlier, a post on Smart Bus Stops made an appearance as well. This article aims to cover the Intelligent Transport System [ITS] of two Southern Cities: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation [BMTC] in Bengaluru and the Mysore City Transport Division of the KSRTC in Mysuru.
Bangalore
BMTC has recently rolled out their [ITS]. I managed to get a chance to talk to someone in the Office of the Chief Systems Manager at Shanthinagar today.
A handheld ticket machine used in BMTC buses in Bengaluru. Image copyright Srikanth Ramakrishnan, CC-BY-SA 4.0 available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Here is what I gathered. The ITS is being implemented in three parts:
Electronic Ticketing Machines: Trimax has deployed 10,000 Verifone ETMs to 39 depots of the BMTC and trained 7,000 of its drivers. The earlier used Quantum Aeon machines were junked in favour of the new ones which BMTC claims was to enable compatibility with RFID-smart cards. Real-time monitoring of ticket sales is possible, although not being used.
Tracking of Vehicles: Every bus has been fitted with a GPS-based tracker which can be tracked online, or via an app.
Public Information System: Under the PIS, displays have been installed at major bus stations to inform the public of which bus is arriving soon. This is similar to what several BEST bus stops on the Western Express Highway have, and what Coimbatore was experimenting with in the post on Smart Bus Stops.
All three components of the ITS are already in operation with the PIS displays installed only at select Bus Stations. BMTC has decided to go for an Open Data Policy, thereby allowing developers to build apps and interfaces with an API to access the data from the ITS.
For more details on the Open Data Policy of the BMTC, do read this post on DataMeet.
Smart Cards are not part of the ITS project. They are being done separately and are due to be rolled out in 3-6 months with all the Pass Issuing Centres being upgraded to issue Smart Cards.
A chat with a conductor later did explain the shortcomings with the ETMs, although Trimax does take quick action on faulty equipment.
The Mysore City Transport Department [MCTD] of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation [KSRTC], also has an ITS in place, called the Mysore Intelligent TRAansport System, known as MITRA. MITRA was formally inaugurated in 2012 by the then Minister for Transport R Ashoka.
Among MITRA’s aims are:
Real-time monitoring and tracking of buses and help reduce road congestion and other transport issues.
ITS improves passenger safety, fleet efficiency, services and traffic situation through transmission of real time information.
According to the MITRA microsite, it’s components are:
Vehicle Tracking
Real Time Passenger Information System
Electronic Display Systems
Mysore was smart enough to implement it before the situation got out of hand and sought funds from the World Bank under GEF and JnNURM.
As part of MITRA, the MCTD recorded the pronunciation of every bus stop name, fitted buses with LED Displays, Speakers, set up display units at Bus Shelters, as well as trained its staff to handle the system. An app was also released less than a month ago for commuters to be able to get bus details as well as fare details on their phone.
While MITRA may not seem as fancy as BMTC’s ITS, it is most certainly benefiting commuters positively and helping promote Public Transport in Mysore. One hope that BEST learns a lesson from this, when restarting its own ITS.
Both BMTC and MCTD built a huge control room with a server to handle the large volume of data. Data is crucial to any project that involves the common man, mainly for operational efficiency.
Today, I had the luck of having a candid chat with a BMTC Volvo conductor at Shanthinagar. Here is a quick summary of what all I learned:
Lack of confidence in the new ticketing machines: The new Verifone ticket machines [procured by Trimax, yes the same Trimax who set up BEST’s system]. Apparently, these new machines hardly last for the sale of 100 tickets before the battery dies out. This, happens on a full charge after being plugged in for 6 hours. The earlier Quantumn Aeon machines, still being used by KSRTC lasts a full two days on a full charge. The new machines are also prone to system crashes, and lack of connection to the server. He equated the new ETMs with the AC Tata Marcopolo buses, which frequently broke down [similar to BEST’s Purple Faeries].
Frequent breakdowns due to complete lack of maintenance: He said that all buses, including the Corona and Volvo fleet were not maintained at all and were prone to breakdowns, especially on Airport services. If a bus broke down on the road, it would lead to them getting a Challan from the Traffic Police, and if it happened in a Bus Station, BMTC would issue a memo. The fines would get deducted from the salaries of both the driver and conductor. Due to this happening, cases of staff committing suicide has also seen a significant rise. He mentioned that these would go unreported more often than not.
Actions taken on faulty parts: When any LED display got spoiled, conductors and depot workers normally try to fix it. They have gained knowledge on fixing the circuit after years of experience. However, if the administration, got wind of it, they’d junk it and procure a fresh piece which would normally cost anywhere from ₹50,000 to ₹1,50,000.
Kickbacks while purchasing buses: Apparently, babus and politicians have got huge kickbacks while buses were purchased, resulting in losses to the exchequer.
Lack of attention from higher ups: Complaints about faulty equipment, breakdowns, etc go unheard. Staff is supposed to fill out their feedback and personnel details and put in into a box, which goes unseen for ages.
Overall, he said that BMTC alone could fill a book in terms of mismanagement, maladministration, and general negligence on the part of the higher officials.
He further added, that due to the additional 6% Luxury tax charged by the government, which BMTC has not yet integrated into the Electronic Ticketing System, conductors have to sell the extra surcharge as paper tickets and keep a stagewise log of these extra tickets being sold.
I was told that the reason BMTC discarded the earlier machines for the new one was to enable RFID integration for the near-future Smart Card rollout, which is rather strange, because according to MicroFx and Quantum Aeon,the ETMs used earlier were RFID enabled.
That is all in this post. A follow up post on the BMTC ITS will come soon.
In a move to boost employee morale and get more publicity, BEST has come up with a new programme.
Capitalising on Masterchef’s Best Dish of the Day concept, BEST officials decided that the new program will help boost publicity and the morale of staff and their families.
A BEST staff member from the Colaba Depot excitedly announced that, the Spouses of BEST employees would be cooking under this new scheme. The dish which manages to satisfy the judge or judges the most will be awarded BEST Dish of the Day and will then be sold in BEST’s Mobile Food House [Phirte Upahar Grih/फिरते उपहार गृह ] to tourists who use BEST’s Mumbai Darshan service. It will have a big banner with BEST Dish of the Day, and बेस्ट डिश ऑफ़ दि डे , written on it.
BEST’s Phirte Upahar Grih, Mobile Food Van, Canteen On Wheels. Image copyright Neeraj Pattath, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
According to sources, negotiations are underway to rope in Akshay Kumar, who hosted the first season of Master Chef in India as the judge for the program. Sanjeev Kapoor is also rumoured to have been contacted. One staffer even suggested that the Undertaking should try and rope in British food writer and celebrity chef Nigella Lawson to increase BESTs visibility to the world.
When contacted, BEST General Manger Jagdish Patil’s assistant responded by saying that his boss had gone for a food tasting. He said, “BEST has a brand name, and we must capitalise on this. Boss was joking about how Navi Mumbai cannot have an NMMT Dish of the Day, because it sounds stupid. He did say that TMT could capitalise on its brand name because its buses were falling apart like a bunch of rusted, loosely held TMT rods. This is one area where they cannot copy us, or outperform us.”
When contacted, NMMT General Manager Shirish Aradwad seemed a little irate. “They cannot focus on buses, now they are focusing on food also? We’ll make sure their food doesn’t enter our Depots just like we stopped AS-505 from entering the CBD Belapur Bus Stand. They say they’ll sell the dish made by spouses on the Mobile Catering Van, right? Well, we’ll get every employee of ours, to cook food and sell it on every bus. We’ll provide every bus with a stove running on the bus CNG tank and a chimney so that conductors can cook in between stages and drivers can cook while waiting at signals. We’ll even rewire the Bell Pull to stir the food when the conductor is selling tickets.”, he retorted.
One hopes that whatever happens, happens soon, and all of us have our tummies full.
Ferries. No, not Fairies. And most certainly, not them Purple Faeries.
Water transport is something that defines most coastal cities. New York has one of the most comprehensive Water Transport networks. In India, Kerala, with its backwaters, has a huge Boat-based transport network. Kochi even has an integrated, Road-Rail-Water Transit Hub in the form of the Vytilla Mobility Hub.
Now, when I talk of water transport in this article, I’m talking of Boats and Catamarans. Higher-end vehicles like Hovercrafts will be dealt with separately. I am mainly talking of passenger traffic, since I’m looking at it from an Urban perspective.
Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has repeatedly called for greater emphasis on water-based transport. This resulted in the passing of the National Waterways Act, 2016. The fundamental reason behind this being the fact that it is cheaper. However, there are multitude of other reasons that work out in favour of water-based transport over road or rail.
Ferries, can run faster than trains, which run faster than buses. Ferries can carry a greater load of people than buses and and in the long run are more reliable. Will the Electronic Boat recently launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it’s high time, India took up water based transport seriously.
Now, the focus of this post is going to be on four specific cities; Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad, mainly because of my experience in them. They can emulated to other cities too, such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
The Kerala State Water Transport Department owns and operates boats and ferries as well as the infrastructure. The Maharashtra Government started planning for this in the right way by getting the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and Maharashtra Maritime Board to set up the necessary infrastructure, while private agencies would operate the services.
Mumbai
BEST Ferry across the Manori Creek. Image copyright Nichalp, CC-BY-SA 2.5 Generic, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Mumbai, as stated earlier, has several rivers flowing through the city, as well as in the vicinity. The Mithi, Oshiwara, Poisar and Dahisar lie entirely on the island, while the Ulhas River flows around the island.
Barring the stretch which passes under the runway of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the Mithi, once dredged, cleaned of toxic sludge, as well as encroachments, can provide connectivity from Terminal 2 of the airport, Marol, and Seepz Village. Similarly, the Oshiwara can provide connectivity from Oshiwara Depot to Oshiwara Station, the Poisar from Poisar Depot to Malwani, and the Dahisar river can connect Ram Mandir in Borivali to the Dahisar Bridge Bus Station. The major hurdles on this stretch would be clearing encroachments, widening the river, dredging it, and ensuring that pollutants don’t enter it. Another major hurdle would be to demolish low lying bridges and have them replaced by higher ones.
The Ulhas river, which meanders through the Pune, Raigad and Thane district, empties into the Thane Creek. The towns of Kalyan-Dombivali, Karjat, Neral, Badlapur, and Ulhasnagar lie on the banks of the Ulhas. In rural pockets, the Ulhas provides water for agriculture. The rest of it, is filthy, much like the Mithi. Back in 2014, a Shiv Sena MP has asked the MMRDA to conduct a feasibility study for Water-based transport from Kalyan to Mumbai and Virar using the Ulhas river. If planned properly, this can link the far flung town of Karjat to the Versova Bridge via the above mentioned cities and Reti Bunder, thus making travel in the MMR easier. This has been notified as National Waterway 53.
Periodic maintenance of these water bodies will also help prevent another 26th July in future.
Today, the only existing mode of transport is in the form of boats and catamarans connecting Ferry Wharf and Gateway of India to Elephanta Island, Rewas, and Mandwa on one side, and Madh Island, Marve, Manori. The former is operated by private bodies while the latter is operated by BEST.
Chennai
The city of Chennai, has two major rivers and one canal linking these two. The Cooum river runs on the north of the city, the Adyar through the Central portion,and the Buckingham Canal connects to two while also providing connectivity to Kakinada in the North and Cuddalore in the South.
The Cooum, passing through the fringe areas of the Core city, such as Poonamallee, Maduravoyal, Koyambedu, Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Egmore and Park is polluted for most of the year. The Adayar, passes through less denser areas such as Ekkaduthangal, Adayar, Mylapore, Guindy, etc and is less polluted. It also passes beneath the Runway of the Chennai International Airport. The Buckingham Canal, meanwhile is relatively cleaner in the Northern fringes of Chennai, and south of Thiruvanmiyur. The section between the two, mostly passing through Central Chennai is pretty much unnavigable because of two reasons: Chennai Central station sort of sits on top of the Canal; The pillars of the MRTS line almost eat away the canals width.
The remaining section of both rivers and the Canal can be utilised for transport in and around the city of Chennai.
The Cooum, by virtue of running parallel to both Poonamallee High Road for most of its part and partly with the Egmore-Beach Railway track, can decongest both the road and the track, as well as the upcoming Metro. The Adayar can connect the Airport, Nandambakkam, Ikkaduthangal, Little Mount, Kotturpuram, Adayar, and terminate at the Theosophical Society.
The Buckingham Canal, on the other hand, can connect Ennore, Wimco Nagar with Basin Bridge on the North, and Thiruvanmiyur to Lattice Bridge, Kannaki Nagar and Sholinganallur in the South. Part of this is part of National Waterway 4.
Like Mumbai, Low Level Bridges would need demolition, the entire water bodies widened and reinforced, and dredged. Periodic maintenance would prevent Chennai from being inundated like in 2015.
Pune
The city of Pune has three major rivers flowing through it, The Mula, The Mutha and the Pavana. The Pavana flows through Northen Wakad, and Chinchwad before merging into the Mula at Kasarwadi. The Mula flows north of Balewadi, separating Pune from Pimpri-Chinchwad at Aundh and Khadki. The Mutha flows from Warje towards Deccan and Shaniwarwada, separating Old and New Pune. The Mula and Mutha meet each other at Sangamwadi from where they flow as the Mula-Mutha.
All three rivers feature a few low lying bridges, most predominantly on the Mutha, which would need be demolished.
The Mula can provide connectivity from Hinjewadi, Wakad, Balewadi, Aundh, Khadki, to Sangamwadi. The Pavana can connect Punawale, Ravet, Chinchwad, Sangvi and Kasarwadi. The Mutha can connect Warje, Kothrud, Karvenagar, Erandwane, and Shaniwarwada. From Sangamwadi, they can provide connectivity to Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar, Mundwa, etc.
Ahmedabad
Sabarmati Riverfront Project. Image copyright Harshit Gohil, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Possibly the best city in India in the matters of Riverine management, Ahmedabad stands out in an interesting way. It is possibly the only city in India without low level bridges, and doesn’t need dredging.
The Sabarmati River, which originates in the Aravalis of Rajasthan, runs dry for most of the year. The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, involved construction of a concrete wall and concrete basin for the river within the city limits, to control its course, as well as facilitate easy maintenance. Part of the river width was reduced to provide for a Promenade and a Riverside Project. There are barrages at regular intervals on the river to regulate the flow of water. The river receives its water via a canal which brings water from the Narmada river at the Sardar Sarovar Dam. This Narmanda Canal flows under the Sabarmati River at their meeting point.
The Riverfront extends to The Torrent Power Park in the North and near Khodiyarnagar in the South. Plans are afoot to further extend it up North to Gandhinagar via GIFT City. There are two Boating Stations on the banks, used for joyrides on the river. This can be converted into a serious transport station, which in future can be extended up to Gandhinagar.
This article was mainly to highlight inner-city, river-based transport options. The benefits of running transport ops are it would help keep the river clean, and keep water flowing, thus, reducing chances of deluges.
In another revolutionary move, BEST has decided to focus on becoming more public-transport centric and turn itself from a loss making body to a profitable one. In other words, BEST has decided to become the BEST, by taking on NMMT and TMT head-on.
Update: BEST has announced reduced bus fares and passes from 01-07-16. AC passes are back to ₹150, with a new Child rate for children under 12. Happy Hours have been introduced as well. More details here: BEST Fare Revision 2016
BEST has decided a reshuffle of its AC routes, cancelling two, reconsidering a few and proposing a few more!
Now, the interesting thing is that BEST is reconsidering two routes via T2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. BEST earlier ran dedicated AC express routes from the airport such as A1Express from T2 to CBD Belapur Bus Station and A14Express to Cadbury Junction. Among the routes being canceled are A76Express from Gorai Depot to NSCI Worli via the Bandra Worli Sea Link and AS592 from Kopar Khairane to NSCI Worli. Routes that almost got scrapped include:
AS9 from Ghatkopar Depot to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee Chowk
A74Express from Oshiwara Depot to NSCI Worli
A75Express from Hirandani Powai to NSCI Worli
A77Express from Gorai Depot to BKC Telephone Exchange
Routes that are being proposed include:
AS71 from Fishermen Colony, Mahim to Mira Road East, via CSIA T2
AS72 from Rani Laxmi Chowk, Sion to Bhayendar East, via CSIA T2
As415 from Agarkar Chowk to SEEPZ via Marol Depot
A list of canceled, proposed BEST AC Routes
Apart from this, 50 routes across the 27 depots are slated to be cancelled.
What started all this?
A simple change in the BEST committee in the MCGM. After close to a decade, the BJP took over the committee from the Shiv Sena. Rather ironic, given that the Sena is anti-Toll while the BJP is pro-Toll. If you recall, it was the Sena that hiked the fares of BEST in 2015, first in February and then in April in 2015.
A quick recap would show that the BJP has always been adept at providing good transport wherever it has been, be it in the form of the Mumbai-Pune or Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressways, the BRTS corridors in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Bhopal and Indore, BMTC and KSRTC which showed a massive turnaround under R Ashoka, the erstwhile Transport Minister of Karnataka.
Back in 2005, BEST, had introduced the Smart Card system with Kaizen Automation, in the form of the Go Mumbai smart card, which was a common mobility smart card for both BEST buses as well as trains on the Suburban Railway. These were subsequently phased out in favour of the present Trimax system that BEST uses.
Rebranding
BEST, which officially turns 70 in its current form next year, and currently has a debt burden of ₹2,250 crore, plans to change its logo as well the colour of the buses in a major move to rebrand itself.
BEST has written to the Sir JJ Insititute of Applied Arts, one of the city’s premier art institutes to guide it in the process. The colour change is part of an exercise to make BEST more acceptable among customers.
The Mumbai Monorail, operated by the MMRDA, got the National Institute of Design [NID], Ahmedabad to design its coaches. One hopes that BEST too, would reach out to NID, or maybe even the Centre for Enviornment, Planning and Technology [CEPT], Ahmedabad for some ideas in design and operations.
Passes
Among other changes, are the rates of passes, monthly, as well as daily passes.
While the Major changes are the the reduction of the Monthly AC bus pass from ₹4800 to ₹3300, a significant change is the reduction of the Magic Daily Passes:
Magic AC: ₹200 to ₹150.
Magic Non-AC: ₹70 to ₹51.
Suburban Pass: ₹50 to ₹36.
Island City/Town: ₹40 to ₹29.
However, these are valid only during the Happy Hour period of 11am to 5pm.
The question here is, if the pass is cheaper post 11am, nobody would buy a pass before that. An alternative explanation is that passes purchased between 11am and 5pm are not valid during the rest of the day, which is an inconvenience to those who might purchase a pass after 11am, but may need to use it at 9pm. I guess, an official explanation from BEST would be the best thing to wait for.
While, BEST currently has good integration with the Suburban Rail, what is desired it better integration with the Metro, Monorail, and MSRTC services.
Victoria Carriages, while not exactly a form of transport, are seen on the roads of Bombay, especially in and around Colaba, where they are used as tourist vehicles.
Usually Silver or Golden in colour, they are mostly seen in and around the Gateway of India, ferrying foreigners around the area. Some of them are lit up, with psychedelic or neon lights, that are turned on in the late evening. They are horse drawn, mostly by white-coloured or brown-coloured horses.
A Golden Victoria pulled by a Brown and White horse on BEST Marg in Colaba. Image copyright Srikanth Ramakrishnan, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Victorias, sometimes incorrectly referred to as Tangas or Tongas, have existed in Mumbai since the times of the British. They have been an integral part of the city’s culture, much like the Double Decker buses that BEST operates, and today exist, solely as a reminder that they once were a premium product.
In 2015, the situation changed completely. A division bench of the Bombay High Court, after hearing a petition by a city-based NGO “Animals and Birds Charitable Trust” along with the globally vocal “People For the Ethnic Treatment of Animals [PETA]”, deemed the use of these Horse-Driven Victorias for joyrides as completely illegal. It gave the State Government a year to phase them out of the city and also directed them to find suitable rehabilitation for these horses. The ruling also mandated the closure of stables within the city where these horses were housed. Maintaining that using horse-driven carriages for joyrides solely for human enjoyment was avoidable and punishable under Section 3 and 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the bench directed the Government of Maharashtra to come up with a solution by December 2015 and submit a compliance report by January 2016.
The reaction to the ban has been mixed.
Half of the reactions are averse. People claim that the ban will affect livelihoods as well as horses. Interestingly, these include a lot of the people who were vocally against the decision of the government to ban Cow-Slaughter, but at the same time protested the killing of Dogs at the Yulin Festival.
The other half of the crowd is happy that the horses can now lead a dignified life rather than be forced to pull around carts around the city. The perception is that if Cycle-Rickshaws can be banned for being a Nuisance, so can Horse-pulled carriages.
Now, what can be done?
Granted, one more part of the city’s rich heritage is also going, but perhaps there can be a workaround.
The tacky model.
If you’ve ever been to Bangalore, you’d see in parts of the city that there exist Victoria-like carriages built on top of a car, complete with an array of Horses fixed to the front. They are commonly seen at weddings and other social functions. A bit tacky if you ask me, especially for the poshness of South Bombay.
The jugaad model.
Horseless tangas and carts do exist in Gujarat. A visit to the Somnath temple would show how the innovative locals replaced the horse with a motorcycle. Not as tacky as a horse, but hey, it’s closer to the solution, and with some sprucing up, might be able to keep up with South Bombay.
All said and done, I am for the ban, solely on the grounds that horses should not be used for pulling around heavy carriages and fat humans on them. Yes, I call them fat, because well, the average human is fat. But, as visible from the above two points, I’m all for innovation of something new to keep the Victorias running, albeit without the horse. Maybe the Japanese can help us with a Robotic Horse, seeing that they are experts at building Robotic Animals and are helping us build our Bullet Train.
A Victoria carriage, all lit up at night. Image copyright Karan Dudeja (WiKD), CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
The future of these Victorias, while indeed bleak for the immediate part, can be a bright one, provided the manufacturers and operators are willing to come together and invest some time, and thought and come up with an innovative solution, and not sit down as if it is a lost cause. There is hope. When BEST has not phased out its Double Deckers because of the Heritage value that they posses, then Victorias too, can stay.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Section 3 lists the Duties of persons having charge of animals, while Section 11 talks about Treating animals cruelly.
In a move that will revolutionise Mumbai’s transport, BEST has finally decided to go one level further and upped its services majorly.
Starting with the plan to ply Electric Hybrid buses in BKC, BEST has gone step further to convert some of its existing fleet into Electric buses.
In a very bold and revolutionary move, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai [MCGM] has allocated ₹10crore to retrofit existing BEST buses with a a Lithium battery powered engine. A batch of five buses will be converted first on a trial basis. BEST has stated that the cost of conversion from Diesel or CNG to Electric buses has gone down from an earlier figure of ₹65lakh to ₹35lakh.
Back in February, shortly after the #MakeInIndia week, BEST announced a design overhaul for its buses. The existing 12 metre long buses have an overhang beyond the rear tyres of the bus that often gets damaged when the bus gets rear ended. In order to eliminate this, 300 new buses which are 11 metre in length are being procured. These new buses will also be fitted with plugpoints for charging phones.
A BEST Minibus running on Route 377. The new buses are expected to be slightly longer than these. Image copyright Karthik Nadar, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Another major development is the proposal to introduce app-based ticketing on BEST buses.
The MCGM has budgeted ₹25 crores for 50 buses, that will be air-conditioned, fitted with a GPS-based tracker, besides offering WiFi, newspapers and drinking water. Conductors would wear a different uniform than the standard Khaki that they wear normally. This is a great exercise for branding the buses, and will help BEST create a better image for their fleet. The buses will primarily run on routes connecting Metro stations and local Railway stations, thus mainly acting as feeders.
With the completion of the Oshiwara Railway bridge as well as the conversion of the DC traction along the harbour line to AC, Railway services are going to get more efficient and BEST will have to match up to the Purple Dragons than run on the tracks. BEST will need to make its Red Warhorses and Red Minions [Regular and Minibuses] work smarter to ferry more people and earn more revenue to keep the city as awesome as it has been.
However, the greatest bit of Publicity that BEST can get right now is that after Uber founder Travis Kalanick took a BEST, a BEST Double Decker was used to ferry Prince Henry, Duke of Cambridge and his wife, Catherine, Dutchess of Cambridge.
Taxi and Ridesharing services in India have decided to upgrade their services in India to give a boost to the ailing market. Both Multinational entities as well as their local counterparts have decided to take the game to the next level.
UberMob and OlaMafia
Uber and Ola have launched their new services: UberMob and OlaMafia, although it is unclear at this point as to who launched what first. Touted as the first legitimate Taxi service for Gangsters, both companies are looking to great successes with the new launch.
On condition of anonymity, an employee at Uber stated, “We want Indians to experience the same feeling that people living on Staten Island experience.” When contacted, an employee of Ola retorted, “We just want our customers to experience an Uber ride in Delhi”. Industry sources stated that the two were keen on emulating an American local cab fleet that protested against Uber with taxicabs designed like cars owned by mobsters, complete with doors without handles on the inside of the car. Uber officials were rumoured to be deputing their notorious Delhi service provider range for this, while Ola has been said to favour its Bangalore fleet’s drivers.
Handicar from South Park. Image copyright Comedy Central.
American Network Comedy Central announced its foray into the Personal Transport space with Handicar. Handicar, which formed the basis of a South Park episode, involves a Wheelchair user with a Cart attached behind it. Drivers wear a cap, known as a “Handicap”. Users are a provided a complimentary snack and beverage.
A South Park Studios animator anonymously stated that the company intended to redraw the Handicar with Toon Boom, and print it using a 3D printer. Handicar drivers would also be provided with a Mask of Timmy’s face which would be fitted with a Voice box that would randomly yell “Timmy!” with different variations and tones. They were keen on starting the service in India because they liked the booming ride-sharing industry and the fact that it would be easy to run the vehicle without a permit.
When contacted, Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh were unable for comment. Eric Cartman was attending the funeral of Kenny McCormick. Kenny was last killed when his orange parka got caught under the wheels of a Handicar.
In a Desi-twist, Avinash Sharma, who claims to be the “Sharmaji ke bete” who scores higher than all the boys around him, announced a new service named ‘Mooch’. Twirling his mustache, he said, “Mooch is a brand name, identifiable by both its name and appearance. The Mustache is a true man’s identity. Mooch seeks to create a brand of it.” When asked if the idea of Mooch might violate trademarks of Lyft in the USA, Sharmaji’s son replied, “There the cab has a mooch, here the driver has a mooch. The cab has a fluorescent pink mooch that lights up and our drivers will have a jet-black [Kesh Kala] mooch that will be waxed nicely. Only drivers with a mustache similar to mine will be employed.”
Recruitment is going on to hire mustached drivers for Mooch. 35 drivers have been selected so far, across a two week period, with many of them emerging from Kanpur and parts of Chhattisgarh as well as from the Satyamangalam forest which used to be the former hideout of the notorious bandit Veerappan. Training is being given to potential drivers to groom their mooch well.
Started by a student as a dedication to his professor of a prestigious Media College, in Western India, B’Ve is touted to be an upper luxury hatchback service. While no major details are available at this time, it is rumoured that all drivers are to have long hair in a Bandana and drive Maroon-coloured Hyundai i20s.
(S)mooch
A rather cliched startup, this is a product of AyyoLabs. “We aren’t trying to imitate Mooch”, says founder Raghu Iyer. He adds, “(S)mooch is much more than ride-sharing. It’s life-sharing. It’s a combination of a ride-sharing app as well as a dating app. Couples looking for a ride are randomly matched on the basis of what they enter on their profile. The profile data is cross-checked and verified with their parents, and Kundlis. The service is right now only available for TamBrahms”.
Bandra Kurla Complex, known to most people as BKC, the new financial hub of Mumbai,and also the site of the Make in India Centre recently, has got a bonus Gold Coin in terms of transport.
Tata Starbus has bagged an order for its new Diesel-Electric Hybrid AC bus from the MMRDA. These buses will be operated by BEST as part of their fleet, thus complementing their existing AC fleet.
Tata Motors bags order for 25 Tata Starbus Diesel Electric Hybrid Bus from the MMRDA. Image copyright Tata Motors.
As per a notification on MMRDA’s website, these buses will be owned by MMRDA, maintained by Tata Motors for a period of five years and operated by BEST. Further, they will operate in dedicated bus lanes within BKC, connecting the District to Bandra Railway Station, Kurla Railway Station and Sion Railway Station.
These buses are set to be a game changer. The reasons being:
Tata has always delivered on the design front, right from their first Starbus Model that was introduced in 2004, which is now used on the Fort Pheri route. Unlike Volvo’s new Hybrid bus, which looks like a regular Volvo, this looks different, and good design is the first step to getting more crowd.
Now coming to Kurla and Sion Stations.
Sion station is set to get a massive makeover. The road bridge connecting Dharavi /LBS Marg to Rani Laxmi Chowk that houses the entrance to the station is set to be demolished to make way for the Fifth and Sixth railway lines connecting Ghatkopar to CST. This means that the station entrance will be shifted, and is good news in the long run.
Kurla Station [West] is the proposed site for MMRDA for the Station Area Transit Improvement Scheme [SATIS], which will see an elevated platform for buses and autos, similar to the structure at Thane Station West.
The new buses will mostly be housed at BEST’s newest depot, the Kala Killa Depot [KK] which was earlier an empty plot adjacent to the Dharavi Depot where buses of the Kurla Depot were parked during its reconstruction. The depot became operational on 31st January 2016.
Another update on this stretch is from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited [MMRCL].
Amidst all controversy and outrage from Environmentalists and the National Green Tribunal [NGT], the latter of which has failed to do its duty and rakes up controversy needlessly, the MMRCL has silently been doing a good job in acquiring land for the underground Metro which will connect Colaba, Cuffee Parade, BKC Mumbai International Airport and SEEPZ.
Today at MMRC, 118 tenements were allotted to PAPs affected by BKC Metro station. pic.twitter.com/59umEAghSa
