Bringing cheer to commuters in Andheri (East), the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking launched its second electric double decker route in the suburbs on A-415 connecting Agarkar Chowk (Andheri Railway Station East) to SEEPZ.
This densely populated route was earlier served by double decker 415 prior to the old fleet being scrapped. For a long time, the only AC bus between Agarkar Chowk and SEEPZ was BEST’s AS-422 that went up to Mulund Check Naka. In late 2016, when BEST was experimenting with its fares, it launched AS-415 (using the Cerita fleet) that mirror the regular 415 and was a sleeper hit. Subsequently, BEST ran its Tata Starbus Hybrid fleet as BKC-16 on this route.
This was one of the most important corridors for double deckers, hence they remained mostly with Majas Depot, except towards the end when they were transferred to the Marol Depot. The new electric buses operate out of the Kurla Depot as charging infrastructure isn’t in place at Marol or Majas yet. Double Deckers in the suburbs currently operate out of either Kurla, Dharavi or Kalakilla Depots.
Futher, the Metro line (Mumbai Metro 1/Blue Line/Reliance Metro) was also built keeping in mind the height requirement for double decker buses underneath it. Judging by the success, I’m guessing BEST did not run into (quite literally) any of the height issues that A-310 is currently facing at the Nehru Nagar junction atop the Santacruz Chembur Link Road.
BEST’s third AC double decker in the suburbs meanwhile runs on route A-332. This route connects Agarkar Chowk to Kurla Depot and travels via Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road till Saki Naka where it takes a turn onto Andheri-Kurla Road via Jari Mari. This journey should be interesting since amid the top-angled view of all the slums en route, once would also get to witness magnificent landings and take-offs at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. However, the bus did run into the same height issue as A310 due to which it has been truncated at Kurla Depot instead of Kurla Railway Station (West).
A-415 meanwhile has run into its own set of controversy, over standees on the bus. Reportedly, as per the rules laid out by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), standees are not allowed on the upper deck of a double decker. While I personally do remember seeing standees on the upper deck of a bus, that was nearly two decades ago when 266 from Andheri Station (West) to Swami Samarth Nagar (Extension) had double deckers. A notice near the rear of the bus, printed on paper has been posted, prohibiting standees on both decks with conductors refusing to board more passengers if all seats are occupied. This has understandably irked people, with some asking if the new buses were delicate.
Let’s hope BEST is able to sort out its issues quickly and bring back normalcy on the city’s roads.
Featured Image: Two A-415s crossing each other at Chakala Signal (Western Express Highway Metro Station on Blue Line 1 and Gundavali on Red Line 7). Picture via Sahil Pednekar on Twitter.
Giving commuters in the suburbs a reason to cheer, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking finally launched its much anticipated electric Double Decker fleet of Switch EiV 22 buses on route 310 (A-310) between Bandra Railway Station (East) and Kurla Railway Station (West) via the Bandra Kurla Complex. This sector was earlier services by the regular double-deckers on Route 310.
However, a slight snag affected the services resulting in several changes. The height of the old buses stood at 4.38m while the height of the new bus stands at 4.75m. This is problematic since all buses bound for Kurla Railway Station (West) have to take a U-turn under the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road’s double-decker flyover to reach the station.
BEST has decided to truncate the double deckers’ route at the MTNL Telephone Exchange while regular single-decker buses will continue on till Kurla. This height issue is expected to affect other routes as well, such as 313 between Santacruz Bus Station and Kurla Railway Station (West) and 332 between Agarkar Chowk (Andheri Station East) and Kurla Railway Station (West).
Interestingly, Mumbai’s suburban railway network hit a similar snag in 2016. When the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai sent the first AC train prototype, it was found to be 4.335m tall as opposed to the maximum permissible height of 4.25m due to several low-lying older bridges on the Central Railway line.
What will BEST do to solve this issue? That remains to be seen.
Update: It seems BEST has asked for a traffic signal to be installed at the junction of SCLR and SG Barve Marg so buses can directly take a right turn towards Kurla Station. This could potentially be problematic as the entire stretch of the road from the Eastern Express Highway to the Western Express Highway is being made signal-free. A signal earlier existed here when SCLR first opened up in 2014. It was a bottleneck as the junction also housed a water tank and pump-house on the median. This was later relocated in 2015 and the junction shut.
Prior to the construction of the SCLR towards the East of this junction, the original SG Barve Marg traveled from Kurla Depot signal on LBS Marg and turned towards Kurla Station. A flyover was built over LBS Marg between 2007 and 2012 and the road was re-aligned towards Kurla East, thus turning SG Barve Marg into a branch road.
In case you are wondering how buses access Kurla Railway Station (West) from Kurla West, here is a video by Gandharva Purohit that shows exactly how it works.
Featured Image: BEST Double Decker taking a U-turn under SCLR towards Kurla (Dharam Tiwari, via Twitter)
Serving Mumbai for 86 years, the conventional Double Decker buses will be replaced with Electric AC Double Decker buses. Bus enthusiasts hired a Double Decker and took it on a special trip exploring Mumbai.
Double Decker buses have always been close to the heart of all of us. The diesel-powered Double Decker buses operated by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking in Mumbai would go off the roads after completing their shelf life of 15 years, in the next two months. Built by Antony Coach Builders in 2008, there were 50 such Bharat Stage 3 (BS-3) double decker buses manufactured. As of early August 2023, only 10 such Double Decker buses are left in service with BEST. To bid farewell to the beloved double decker, busfans from Mumbai came together, hired a bus from Dharavi Depot, and planned a special run covering the popular sightseeing locations of Mumbai. You can watch a video about this day (in Marathi) as well.
The planning began with limited people, ensuring everything was done in a well-disciplined manner. Responsibility for route planning, bus booking, ordering a special cake, snacks to be carried along and decorations for the bus was evenly split among the core members and 8 July 2023 was the finalised date for this special run. The core members reached Dharavi Depot well in advance but had to wait for two hours since the bus was plying on route in the morning and had not returned yet. The double decker finally arrived at around noon and was immediately sent for washing. We finally got to see our 4037/DH, the last remaining double decker of the Dharavi Depot with traditional roller blinds at quarter past noon. With limited time in hand, the decorations were to be done in merely 10-15 minutes to avoid further delay. Meanwhile, other group members were waiting for over an hour with a special cake ready with them. The cake featuring 4037/DH was cut by the depot staff and after completing the rituals, we commenced our journey to explore the heart of Mumbai.
Special Cake with the picture of 4037/DH on it that was cut by BEST Staff. (Photo: Gandharva Purohit)
Our first stage was crossing the Bandra Worli Sea Link. Opened for traffic in June 2009, only open-deck double-decker buses (of BEST plying on Heritage special runs) have crossed the bridge so far. We happened to be the first to travel onboard a double decker bus on the Sea Link. In Worli, we took our first halt at Nehru Planetarium and spent nearly 30 to 45 minutes for a good photoshoot. Our fellow member Azharuddin Kazi felicitated the working crew with a shawl and a coconut. A group picture with the special banner was clicked with our double decker bus. We also got a chance to look in the driver cabin and each member patiently waited for their turn. After having our refreshments, the journey resumed towards Haji Ali and then to Tardeo Bus Station. At Tardeo, our gigantic double decker bus was parked right beside Deonar Depot’s BS6 AC midi bus waiting to start back on route A92 to Anushakti Nagar. During this halt, we got to explore the destination boards. 4037/DH being the last double decker bus with old-school roller blinds, it was a “now or never” opportunity. After exploring the destinations, we once again set the Scroll to SPECIAL: RESERVED and proceeded ahead.
Decorated Double Decker Bus at Nehru Planetarium (Photo: Gandharva Purohit)
The bus then passed through Nana Chowk (Grant Road) towards Girgaon Chowpatty. Due to time constraints, we did not take a halt at the beach and continued south on the Queen’s Necklace (Marine Drive). The Meteorological Department had issued a yellow alert for the weekend but we didn’t face any issues as the rains took a break. It was cloudy on one side and sunny on the other. Our bus passed during high tide when the sea waves were directly hitting Marine Drive, beyond the Tetrapods. After a left from Air India Building, we continued our journey towards the Gateway of India via Mantralaya and Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Chowk (Museum). At Gateway, a rare coincidence was about to happen for which, four busfans among us were ready with their cameras. The electric double decker bus of the Colaba Depot on the Heritage sightseeing route was halted outside Gateway as we made our way through the traffic. Four busfans alighted and sprinted ahead to take the money shot. An aligned halt for merely five seconds turned their efforts fruitful. We got both the diesel and electric double decker sharing a frame for one last time.
BEST’s BS-3 Ashok Leyland Diesel Double Decker and Switch EiV22 Electric Double Decker next to each other. (Photo: Aditya Kelkar)
After returning to Colaba Causeway via Taj Hotel, we commenced our return journey. From Museum, we continued towards Old Customs House and took Mint Road to GPO. Since BEST did not allow us to take the Eastern Freeway and JJ Flyover, we continued through the slow-moving traffic of Mohammed Ali Road. After a gap of two years, a double decker bus passed through here. As the restrictions post-lockdown were getting eased back in July 2020, a majority of passengers were dependent on bus travel. The double decker buses did help in increasing the passenger carrying capacity for BEST. Special Services were operated using double decker buses from Backbay and Colaba to Khodadad Circle (Dadar TT). However, a decrease in the overall bus fleet resulted in the discontinuation of these special services.
We took the flyover from Parel, thereby escaping the traffic congestion of Madkebuwa Chowk, Hindmata Cinema and Dadar TT. From Matunga, we switched back to the slow lane. The height barrier located below the King’s Circle railway station is quite infamous for numerous heavy vehicle accidents. Back in 2020, I had a doubt in mind whether the double decker services running between Colaba and Dadar post lockdown were not extended up to Sion due to this. But my doubts were cleared, once we passed under the height barrier, safe and sound.
After a ride through Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, we arrived at Rani Laxmibai Chowk for another halt. Our arrival grabbed everyone’s attention as it was again the gap of two years since a double decker bus arrived inside Sion bus station. In August 2020, two double decker buses from Dharavi Depot were deployed on route C42Express between Sion and Mulund. Maintaining a frequency of 30 minutes, double decker buses helped clear the excessive rush on the Eastern Express Highway through C42Express and Western Express Highway through route 440 from Wadala to Borivali.
After a brief halt at Sion, we proceeded towards the final leg of our journey back to Dharavi Depot. Everyone among us felt “This journey should go on as long as possible” but “all good things must come to an end”. Since nothing lasts forever, this journey too was supposed to end at some point in time. Those 10 minutes from Sion to Dharavi felt as if the time slowed down for a moment. The unforgettable memories with the double decker bus flashed in front of us while the bus was nearing its home. It was painful to leave but we all summoned the courage to bid adieu to our Non-AC Double Decker Bus and call it a day.
Special Thanks to Sahil Pusalkar, Rupak Dhakate, Azharuddin Kazi and Sumedh Tambe for planning this special event.
Featured Image: A group picture with the Double Decker at Sion Bus Station (Photo: Prathamesh Prabhu)
In an interesting development, an open-deck doubled-decker bus manufactured by Ashok Leyland’s Switch Mobility was spotted near Marina Beach in Chennai.
The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) had announced that it was considering bringing back double-deckers on the city’s roads in July 2023. Double Deckers were originally introduced in the 1970s and ran on the High Court (Broadway) to Tambaram Route (most likely 21G) but wound up soon due to poor patronage. The Institute of Road Transport, Chennai (IRT) which is responsible for procuring buses in the state has begun the process of looking at different options.
It was reported that these buses would likely run on the Marina, which is where trials were conducted.
The bus seems to be an open-deck variant of Switch Mobility’s EiV22 that is currently in service in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Only Hyderabad, however has the open-deck variant in service, although it looks vastly different from the one that was seen in Chennai. Given that Switch is rapidly making changes to its models based on commuter feedback, this could be due to that. You can read more about the double-deckers in Hyderabad here: Double Decker Buses Return To Hyderabad After Two Decades, City Of Pearls Becomes First To Launch Electric Version
Chennai is currently among the few metro cities in India without any electric buses. At the same time, after the Volvo fleet was scrapped, the new Ashok Leyland fleet is a fledgling and not enough for the city. You can read a review of these buses here: A Quick Review Of MTC’s AC Buses
Featured Image: Screengrab of the Switch Double Decker from Sun News’ Twitter
In what can only be described as good news for both transit fans and history buffs alike, the Maharashtra Government has agreed to save one Bharat Stage 3 (BS3) Double Decker bus of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking at the Anik Depot instead of scrapping it. This decision came from no less than the Chief Minister’s office. Apart from this, Dr Shrikant Shinde, Member of Parliament from Kalyan and son of CM Eknath Shinde has also promised to take up the matter.
As reported by Rajendra Aklekar for Mid-Day, this happened purely due to the initiative of three bus fans, particularly Shubham Padave, an IT professional from Mumbai with whom I have had the pleasure of interacting over Twitter in the past. Padave wrote to the BEST administration requesting them to preserve one bus. Since he did not get a satisfactory response, he took things a notch higher and directly wrote to the CM’s office and got a positive response.
The second bus fan is none other than Rupak Dhakate, whose posts in the past have been featured on this blog. Rupak was the ace photographer who snapped the glorious click of the bus chowky at Maharana Pratap Chowk in Mazagaon, helped bust the fake news that Oshiwara Depot was shutting down, and also created the amazing BEST Quarantine Challenge during the first lockdown in 2020. In 2020, Rupak started an initiative to ensure that at least one bus of every model is preserved at BEST’s museum at Anik. He rightly says that the double-decker bus is not just a bus but an emotion, and I cannot agree more with him.
The third bus fan is our very own Gandharva Purohit, who has written some really insightful posts on BESTpedia in the past. Don’t forget to read them here, if you haven’t already. Gandharva has made a great argument in favour of preserving heritage buses at BEST’s Museum at Anik on the lines of the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden, London. He also says that BEST can organise open-day events and sell souvenirs.
As of now, BEST has 12 of the new electric Switch double deckers and three open-top variants of the old fleet housed at the Colaba depot, and the remaining 19 of the classic double deckers are house at Marol and Dharavi. The Backbay, Kurla and Worli depots stopped housing double deckers when they were scrapped in 2020.
In 2021, Aklekar had reported on Mid-Day that the Manjusha Museum in Dharmasthala, Karnataka had paid ₹12 lakh for two double decker buses – ₹5 lakh for an open-top one and ₹7 lakh for a regular double decker – to be housed at the museum that houses over 8,000 artefacts.
Overall, this is a win for the transit heritage community. I personally feel that every city in India, especially the ones that got public transport right from the independence era should make a serious effort towards preserving older vehicles in museums to showcase the evolution of public transport to future generations.
That’s all from me this time.
Featured Image: Bus 4043 of the Dharavi Depot operating on Route C-42. Photo clicked by GP.Busfanning
Note to the mainstream media and Youtubers: The photograph featured above is copyright GP.Busfanning and has been used on BESTpedia with permission. Do not flick the image without permission from GP.Busfanning.
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)
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)
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.
After a gap of twenty years, double decker buses have returned to the roads of the southern city of Hyderabad, and this time in an electric avatar, making the City of Pearls to be the first city in India to have double-decker buses in operation. Double deckers were earlier operated by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) until services folded up in 2003. Double deckers were introduced under the Nizam State Railways – Road Transport Division (NSR-RTD) of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. With the subsequent bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, city services in Hyderabad came under the aegis of the Hyderabad Zonal Urban Road Transport Corporation (HZURTC) that comes under and operates using its parent body, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).
Open deck and regular double deckers of the HMDA and TSRTC (Image Tweeted by Arvind Kumar)
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) placed an order for six buses, of which three have been delivered with the rest to be delivered soon. The HMDA is looking to up its fleet to 20 such buses. The buses are Ashok Leyland Switch EiV 22 AC double deckers, although in the images released by the Special Chief Secretary for Urban Development Arvind Kumar, the Switch logo in the front of the bus was visibly covered up. Each bus costs ₹2.16 crore and comes with an annual maintenance contract (AMC) for 7 years. With a carrying capacity of 65 passengers plus the driver, each bus has a range of 150km and can be charged in 120 to 150 minutes.
The buses were flagged off by Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao along with Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy and Chandrayanagutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi.
An old Double Decker Bus in Hyderabad from the year 2000 running on Route 7Z from Zoo Park to Secunderabad via High Court. Photo shared by Shakerhussain on Twitter.
These buses will primarily run along the Hyderabad Street Circuit as part of the the Hyderabad Formula ePrix to be held on 11 February in and around the vicinity of the newly built Telangana Secretariat, Tank Bund, Necklace Street, Paradise and Nizam College. After that, they will be used for tourism along a heritage circuit in the city.
The Forumla ePrix and Hyderabad Street Circuit
The Hyderabad ePrix is part of the 2022-2023 Formula E Championship. The Formula E championship is a single-seat motorsport championship for electric cars and this will be the first edition to be held in India.
The Hyderabad Street Circuit (BBTD/Wikimedia Commons)
The Hyderabad Street Circuit is a race track laid along the roads of the city. Two designs were prepared, one by PPE Racing and the other by Driven International. The second one was chosen while the former was criticised for its rather phallic design with one racer allegedly saying it resembled a dildo.
Interestingly, in 2018, the Formula One Powerboat Championship (F1H2O) was held in the new capital of Hyderabad’s former state, Amaravati.
Telangana Mobility Valley
KT Rama Rao announced that Telangana would soon see investments of ₹3,000 crore in the mobility sector, in addition to the ₹8,000 crore already secured by the state in the segment. A new mobility cluster, named the Telangana Mobility Valley would be established for electric vehicles with a focus on manufacturing, engineering, research and development for vehicle manufacturing as well as cell chemistry, hydrogen fuel cells and component manufacturers. Currently, research and development in the EV sector is primarily based out of Bengaluru in neighbouring Karnataka while manufacturing is concentrated in the neighbouring Krishnagiri district and Chennai, both in Tamil Nadu.
Featured Image: Hyderabad’s new Switch EiV22 Double Deckers (Image tweeted by Arvind Kumar)
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.
