Double-Decker – Page 2

Double Decker Buses Return To Hyderabad After Two Decades, City Of Pearls Becomes First To Launch Electric Version

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 Sitting On Plans To Induct Electric Buses, Delhi Now Wants To Join The Electric Double-Decker Bandwagon

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.

Featured Image: BYD Electric Bus in London

After BEST And NMMT, Pune Now Wants To Experiment With Electric Double-Deckers

A week after BEST announced plans to procure 800 double-decker buses and NMMT announced its intentions to begin trials, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has announced its interest in the same.

Double-deckers were first operated in Pune in 1984 and were taken off the roads in 1995 due to operating costs and and accidents. I’m not sure if it was the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) or Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Transport (PCMT) that operated them. At least six routes were operated on the Mumbai-Pune Road.

PMPML officials have stated that they have met with manufacturers of electric buses on the matter and keen on pursuing it due to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s alleged interest in double-decker buses.

The Corporation is looking at procuring buses on a wet-lease model, similar to BEST, while it will provide the required infrastructure for it. However, they have also agreed that operating double-decker buses isn’t an easy task and would require significant planning, particularly in the routes.

Note: After a little digging, I found more information. The double-deckers run earlier were operated by the PMT and not the PCMT. According to a DNA report, PMPML originally considered bringing back double-decker buses to the fleet in late 2014, however the proposal did not move forward much. The criteria for re-induction of these buses was due to wider roads and increased congestion.

Another proposal was mooted in 2017, this time in electric form. It had the backing of both the BJP-led PMC and PCMC along with the backing of then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Central Government.

Let’s hope PMPML is successful with its double-decker plans. The city currently has India’s largest fleet of electric buses.

Featured Image: Alexander Dennis-BYD Enviro400 EV

P.S: If you’re buying a car, don’t buy a Hyundai or Kia. You can read more why over here: Hyundai India blocks netizens after they question whether they endorse their Pakistani counterpart’s views on Kashmir

If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Maharashtra is still the top state by total cases and deaths.

Electric Double-Deckers: BEST To Procure 900 Amid Political Slugfest And Misleading Image While NMMT Looks At Pilot Project

With the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking’s double-decker fleet strength going down from 120 to 48 in the last two years, the city’s iconic bus might stage a comeback soon.

The BEST committee has approved the procurement of 900 air-conditioned (AC), electric double-decker buses on a wet lease for 12 years to alleviate the city’s traffic woes.

BEST’s original plan included inducting 2,100 AC electric buses that included 200 double-deckers. The undertaking wants to convert 50 per cent of its fleet to electric by 2023 and go completely electric by 2027. As part of this move, it wants to procure 1,400 regular buses, 400 mini-buses and 100 mini-buses, all air-conditioned and electric. However, the number for the double-deckers has now gone up to 900.

The change in procurement has now led to a fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sena in the BEST committee. The BJP has stated that the earlier proposal for 200 buses was to be funded by the Central government’s Ministry of Heavy Industries under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. The BJP has asked where the funding is coming from and has questioned the scope of the tender given that any increase in expenses will have to be borne by BEST. Questions have also been asked how the tender has been merged with the state government’s clean energy policy.

Four manufacturers had evinced interest in the original tender with prices ranging from ₹56 to ₹160 per kilometre. Sources say BEST will likely ask the second bidder to bring in 200 buses while the lowest bidder will supply the rest.

Transport experts have questioned how BEST is able to get double-deckers at such low prices when single-decker buses (AC and electric) cost between ₹54 and ₹72 per kilometre.

Minister Aaditya Thackeray meanwhile took to Twitter to share an image of London’s Metroline Double-Decker buses with the BEST logo (बेस्ट) photoshopped on it, thus misleading many people.

The photoshopped image shared by Aaditya Thackeray

This in turn led to a series of hilarious, satirical tweets with vehicles from across the world being shared as achievements of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

The best (pun intended) among them was shared by Maithun with a hilarious caption: Under the disable leadership of Priyanka Chaturvedi, Mumbai is all set to get BEST mini flying taxi. Aaditya Thackeray personally monitored the project.

Meanwhile, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking, which has been having a golden run with its electric AC fleet, has floated a tender to procure a single electric AC double-decker. The undertaking has said that it wants to run a pilot project and if it is economically viable, it may increase the fleet strength.

The tender document stipulates that NMMT would buy a fully built bus with a 12-year long annual maintenance contract (AMC). The manufacturer would have to provide a two year warranty for the bus and a five-year warranty for the battery while also installing a charging station.

A sad thing to note is that NMMT will soon scrap its 12 Volvo buses as they are more than ten years old and their operating costs have become too high.

To read more about how NMMT turned things around with its electric buses, do read Gandharva Purohit’s excellent article on this: How NMMT Grabbed An Opportunity And Made The Best Out Of It

To read more humorous and satirical takes on BEST, do check out the Satire section.

Let’s hope BEST gets the new double-deckers without any issues. The political slugfest and sharing of fake images do not bode well for the transport body.

If you are stepping out, make sure you wear a mask, follow COVID-appropriate behavior and keep your hands sanitised at all times. Maharashtra is still the top state by total cases and deaths.

Featured Image: Ashok Leyland’s Switch Metrodecker bus

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