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.
Got my new wallpaper!!! 2 iconic structures of South Mumbai. Parsi colony and BEST's Colaba depot. PC:Ujwal Puri pic.twitter.com/kzPJCAtaim
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?
That’s all from my side for today. If you liked this post, do consider backing me up on Patreon.
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.
Big queues near G.H. School, near Borivali station(E) for all long distance buses, mainly 440 Ltd. Social distancing gone for a toss. All seats occupied in the bus (in photo) due to rush. Cc @rsrikanth05@rajtoday@tanushreevenkatpic.twitter.com/IQ9WigpOhp
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
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.
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.
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.
If you, like me (and several others) are still drooling over my last post of BEST’s mini-buses parked at Oshiwara Depot, here is another visual treat for you.
After a gap of nearly three years, a BEST bus was snapped on the Bandra Worli Sea Link!
Clicked by user Instasnapper, this bus is a Tata Marcopolo CNG midi-bus belonging to the Mumbai Central (CN) depot that is owned and operated by SMT ATPL Associates (marked by SAA next to the depot code).
I presume that this bus was on emergency duty, similar to the one spotted heading to Badlapur earlier this month.
The last time BEST had any buses on the Sea Link was prior to 2017. While several other routes existed, only three of them ran from 2014 till BEST’s eventual cancellation of AC services in 2017. These were A-74Express from Oshiwara Depot to NSCI Worli (Lotus), A-75 Express from Hiranandani Powai to NSCI Worli and A-76Express from Gorai Depot to NSCI Worli. All of them used the Cerita fleet (Purple Faeries struggling to climb the incline on the sea link) while A-74Express briefly used the Volvo fleet when it went from Oshiwara Depot to Colaba Depot (AS-4 always went from Oshiwara Depot to Backbay Depot but via Mahim). A non-AC bus 33Ltd with the same destinations as the regular 33 from Goregaon Bus Station to Pandit Paluskar Chowk (Opera House) was experimented with in 2010 according to the Hindustan Timesreport.
Well. That’s all from my side for today. Do check back on the blog for more!
Like I said in my last post, the current situation has made things difficult for many of us. Do consider supporting me on Patreon!
At the start of the month, I put up a post on BEST’s new mini-bus fleet visible from Google Earth. Here’s a visual treat for you of the same at Oshiwara Depot, this time clicked from one of the high-rises in the vicinity.
In the above image you can see the Oshiwara depot (full of them red postvans), with the Goregaon Depot on the extreme right-hand side. In front of both depots is the majestic Goregaon Metro station on Line 2 of the Mumbai Metro.
On the left-hand side, you can see the Oshiwara River along with what looks like a bridge being built across it. Google Earth shows that the river has been widened at the location in the question between 2018 and 2020 and this construction on the river did not exist as recent as October 2019. However, going by both Google Earth and this image, it looks like a two lane road or promenade may be built over it.
This picture was clicked by singer Abhijeet Sawant. Sawant was the winner of the first season of Indian Idol in 2004-2005 (though the runner up Amit Sana was more popular). Presumably Sawant lives in the apartment behind the depot; the area is home to a lot of film stars. Incidentally Abhijeet Bhattacharya, known mononymously as Abhijeet also lives in the vicinity, and is the President of the Annual Lokhanwala Durgotsav that takes place at Lokhandwala.
While I shall trawl the interwebz for more such pictures, the rest of you lot can enjoy this splendid for the time being.
An interesting thing to note that BEST’s Volvo fleet is still housed at the Oshiwara Depot, albeit at the far end now (just outside the frame in this picture), as per the latest Google Earth update, which is from 30 January 2020. The buses seem to have gathered dust as they look visibly brown compared to the bright red from October last year.
On that note, I shall end this post, but since we are talking of Abhijeet Sawant, do listen to his song Lafzon Mein.
A closing line: The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has left many of us in a financially awkward position. I’d request you to back me up on Patreon. While I agree it is in United States Dollars ($) and not Indian Rupees (₹), I’m looking at an alternative as well, maybe PayU or RazorPay or Instamojo. But till then, Patreon seems to be the best option. I will add that there are more articles lined up for readers, including on Pune’s electric buses, Mumbai’s water transport and more.
Amidst the ongoing Wuhan Virus pandemic, BEST’s buses have been spotted heading for Badlapur.
While BEST has in the past run a few buses outside of its current jurisdiction (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mira-Bhayendar), the farthest route it ran was C-43, an express route from Kurla to Mumbra Station. Other transcos in the neighbourhood such as NMMT, TMT, VVMT have run their buses farther, with VVMT running a bus from Vasai to Mulund in the past.
A BEST bus belonging to the Bandra Depot was recently spotted by Tyronne D’Souza at Santacruz headed for Badlapur. While the route number said 00, the destination had बदलापुर written on the LED display.
Great job of BEST to extend its services this far out in the current situation. One hopes BEST might consider running this service full time once the lock down ends.
Here is a picture of the bus.
Spotted in Santacruz. BEST Bus belonging to the Bandra Depot bound for Badlapur to ferry essential workers during the lockdown.
So, a lot of you might know that I love to spend a lot of time on Google Earth. In the past, I’ve also written an article (for Swarajya) based on my observations on Google Earth ( UPA-Era National Highways Created Quite A Mess, Nitin Gadkari Needs To Fix This First) I’m not the only one. Colonel (Retired) Vinayak Bhat too has written many articles (for The Print) based on revelations from satellite imagery to reveal the nefarious deeds of our not-so-friendly neighbours Pakistan and China. You can read them here.
This article is to merely show that Google Earth has updated its satellite imagery of Mumbai. You now have a splendid view of construction of various metro corridors in the city, the Mumbai Trans-harbour Link (MTHL), the Coastal Road, along with several projects in Navi Mumbai including the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and Bharat Mala and Sagar Mala projects.
The updates, with imagery from 30 January and 27 February 2020 also shows a lot of updates featuring BEST’s new fleet of mini-buses and midi-buses.
So let us start at Andheri. Below is a map of Andheri Station (West) where BEST’s initial flurry of mini-buses were launched. You can see a large number of buses parked at the main Andheri (West) Bus Station and another, albeit smaller lot further south at the Kumkum Bus Stop.
No mini-buses were spotted at Agarkar Chowk, Andheri (East) because mini-buses there were launched in March.
Next up is Goregaon Station (East). As you can see from this image, there are many buses scattered all over Goregaon (East) Bus Station. Some are inside the bus station while some are outside. That’s because similar to Andheri, some buses have their bus stops outside the bus station.
While there is one mini-bus from Goregaon Bus Sation (West), that was launched in February and this image is from January. Also, do note, while Andheri and Goregaon stations may look similar, the elevated deck above the Harbour Line platforms at Andheri is much larger while the one at Goregaon is not continous.
And now, going a little to the East. Actually, much much to the east. This is Deonar Depot. As you can see from this image, these are not the Force Diesel mini-buses but the Tata CNG Midi-buses.
After Andheri (and Jogeshwari, both of which come under the Oshiwara Depot), Deonar seems to have got the largest lot of AC-buses. Deonar was earlier home to a huge lot of the Cerita fleet (Purple Faeries) along with Oshiwara, Magathane and Mulund.
Coming down south, we see Byculla Station (West) with a few midi-buses. These buses all belong to the Mumbai Central Depot.
After Byculla, we can also see some of the same buses at Mahalakshmi Station (West). These are the buses that start from Byculla Station (West) and terminate at Breach Candy Hospital.
Here is a snapshot from the Mumbai Central depot that is home to all the mini-buses in South Bombay. These buses ply in areas including Mumbai Central, Nagapada, Grant Road, Mahalakshmi, Breach Candy, Byculla, Sandhurst Road, Pandit Paluskar Chowk (Opera House), Vasantao Naik Chowk (Tardeo), Cumbala Hill, August Kranti Maidan, Haji Ali and Nana Chowk.
A little to the East, here is Wadala Station (West) and the Wadala Bridge monorail station.
And the last picture is from Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk/ Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj VastuSangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum). These are buses coming from either Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk/Churchgate Station or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and headed for Gateway of India or terminating at Dr. SPM Chowk.
Now, these are the only ones I’m posting here because there are the only ones where significant amount of red buses have been spotted. There are a few outside Dadar Station (East) but mostly on the road elsewhere. I can’t spot any outside Parel-Prabhadevi Station (West) or at Comrade P K Kurne Chowk (Doordarshan) due to the shadow from taller buildings in the vicinity.
So, till the next post. Have fun trawling through Google Earth.
In a stunning revelation, it has been revealed that the current Maharashtra government may consider running buses in the tunnels of Mumbai Metro’s famed Line 3 project.
Without the controversial SEEPZ depot, the metro cannot be operational since it won’t have a place to park trains and carry out their maintenance. In order to sort this mess out, the government has decided that they will run BEST buses in the pair of 33.5km long tunnels.
Confirming the developments, an official on the condition of anonymity said that BEST had already been running buses in tunnels for almost a decade and this would be nothing new. “We’ve run buses on the Eastern Freeway, they’ve taken the flyover and the tunnels, what is new?”, he said.
He added that while initial proposals involve letting buses drive into the tunnels at the Sariput Nagar ramp in Jogeshwari, there are plans to set up additional ones at Bandra-Kurla Complex and the Airport as well. The government may also set up a crane to lower the bus into the tunnel so buses need not run only in them, he added. The plan is apparently to run the mini-bus fleet in the tunnel, from what we gathered.
When asked, where the idea came from, he directed the questions to another officer, who on the condition of anonymity as well, gave us an answer. “With everything operating at half capacity right now, some of us looked for other ways to spend our time. I opened Google Earth to see the Attari-Wagah border and then continued on that road to Lahore where I saw a BRTS on a flyover. We then went for lunch, and when I came back, one of my colleagues showed me Elon Musk’s Boring Company”, he said.
You see, Lahore BRTS has a long elevated stretch. If they run a bus on that, why can’t we run a bus in our metro tunnels? We’ve run buses inside the tunnel on the Eastern Freeway?
The officer
When asked about the inspiration from Elon Musk, he said that Musk’s plan was the first to have tunnels under a city and run regular vehicles in them. When pointed out that Musk had a change of heart in 2018 and decided to allow public transport through the system, he responded with “That’s why we’re planning on running buses in them”.
When asked about what would happen about the 31 trains ordered from Alstom, we were told “Jab aaega, tab dekha jaega” (We’ll see about it when they arrive). A third official even dropped a comment that they may be sold to the Mumbai Suburban Rail. We don’t know if he realises that they run on different track gauges.
Whatever, happens, let us hope that Mumbai finally gets the public transport it deserves.
Note: To know how a crane would be used to lift a bus in and out, see this video on how a crane is being used to lift a tractor off the metro viaduct.
Nearly two weeks after BEST offered to ferry passengers to hospitals, the undertaking has now converted seven of its mini-buses into basic ambulances for Wuhan Coronavirus patients, reports Rajendra Aklekar.
Living up to its name! Mumbai's public transport @myBESTBus converts seven mini-AC buses into basic ambulances to ferry #Covid_19 patients. Bus workshops have worked on building air-tight partitions to separate the driver's cabin. @mid_daypic.twitter.com/ntQrIwS7AR
As reported by Mr Aklekar, BESTs workshops have built a completely air-tight partition between the rear section of the bus and the driver’s section. All seats have been removed and the rear emergency door is being used to access the bus.
From being the city’s lifeline, BEST is now the city’s life-saver. We hope to see more buses pressed into action to beat this pandemic in the days to come.
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai/Brihanmumbai Municipal Corproation (MCGM/BEST) put out an entire list of what the mini-buses are doing.
