In 2023, a considerable furore was created when the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking’s older double-decker buses were being scrapped. A glimmer of hope emerged when a group of busfans managed to write to then CM Shinde and get one of them preserved in the BEST Museum at the Anik Depot.
Subsequently, the undertakings’ parent body, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai or Brhihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (MCGM or BMC) decided to convert them to galleries, libraries and cafes. However, not much is known about the plan or what happened thereafter.
On a recent trip to Delhi, something caught my eye. At South Extension, I saw a double-decker bus (I’m not sure if it is a real bus or just a model) with the name Food Bus of India.
Food Bus of India at South Extension, Delhi. (Pic: Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
On searching, I noticed that this is a restaurant chain with multiple outlets across Delhi. Now, I have seen a similar concept in Mumbai as well, but what it were really a bus? A bus that had carried people in the past and was part and parcel of the city’s vibrant economy, culture and heritage?
Now, the idea isn’t far fetched. Indian Railways, thru its subsidiary Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is doing the same across multiple railway stations in India with an old coach converted to a restaurant. Given the financial situation that BEST is in, this would make a lot of sense. Outsource the operations of a restaurant to a private agency, albeit with a stringent background check, unlike what the transport body is doing with its wet lease of buses. Let the maintenance of the buses itself remain under BEST’s purview. These dilapidated buses can be transformed into a vibrant, upscale cafe and BEST can ensure that it gets a rent or operations fee and a small percentage of the profits.
In 2020, during the pandemic, BEST’s younger sibling, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking had decided to upscale two disused buses into artistic mobile toilets. Then there was the case of the infamous “bus mall“ spotted on a bus owned by the Vasai-Virar Municipal Transport (VVMT) undertaking. BEST can easily transform its old buses and make something meaningful of them. Further, they need not pay for additional land by placing them on the premises of existing bus stations.
My belief in this idea stems from an episode of Popeye that I saw as as child. In it, after a fight with Bluto or Brutus, Popeye turns an old plane into an eating joint with stools next to the wings turning the wing into the table. As always, Wimpy comes and orders a hamburger, promising to pay him back the next Tuesday. I have been looking for this image online and even tried to get AI to generate the image, but forgive me, I am unable to get that.
Let us hope that the buses have not been scrapped in entirety and something can be done about them.
If you have any interesting suggestions, do drop a line in the comments section below. If you like this idea, do share this post with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and let him know!
Featured Image: A double-decker bus used as a restaurant (Concept Art/LeonardoAI)
In a bid to automate and mechanise certain functions while putting older buses of the fleet to better use, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has converted an old bus into a moving high-pressure cleaning system.
Bus stations of the Corporation’s Rainbow bus rapid transit system (Rainbow BRTS) were earlier cleaned manually by sweeping them. The plan to to change the process was initiated by Babasaheb Mulani, a bench fitter from the Pimpri Depot under the guidance of depot manager Bhaskar Dahatonde and DME Rajkumar Mane.
The vehicle was used to clean BRTS shelters in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad during the ongoing G20 summit.
PMPML shared a video explaining the new system to their social media accounts. Below is the video from their Youtube channel and the wonderful caption from their Instagram account.
Innovative BRT Bus stop cleaning system by PMPML
Until date BRT bus stops of PMPML were majorly cleaned using normal mechanisms like sweeping, but to thoroughly clean every corner of a bus stop PMPML came up with an idea to convert an old bus into a moving high pressure cleaning system.
Due to resolute efforts from Babasaheb Mulani (Bench Fitter) under the guidance of Bhaskar Dahatonde (Pimpri Depot Manager) and Rajkumar Mane (DME) this idea came into existence and was successfully executed.
As the cleaning performance of this innovation was excellent, this bus was also sent to clean BRT bus stops and routes during the G20 Summit.
PMPML heartily appreciates this innovative creation and ideation by our employees.
पीएमपीएमएलचे बीआरटी बस थांबे सध्यापर्यंत फक्त झाडून साफ केले जात होते, परंतु बसस्थानकाचा प्रत्येक कोपरा पूर्णपणे स्वच्छ करण्यासाठी पीएमपीएमएलमधील कर्मचाऱ्यांना जुन्या बसला चालत्या फिरत्या उच्च दाबाच्या स्वछता प्रणालीमध्ये रूपांतरित करण्याची कल्पना सुचली.
हि कल्पना सत्यात उतरविण्यासाठी पिंपरी आगाराचे आगार व्यवस्थापक भास्कर दहातोंडे व पिंपरी आगार अभियंता राजकुमार माने यांच्या मार्गदर्शनाखाली बेंच फिटर बाबासाहेब मुलाणी यांनी आटोकाट प्रयत्न करून टाकाऊ साहित्या पासून सर्व्हिस व्हॅन मध्ये ‘फिरते वॉशिंग सेंटर’ तयार केले व त्याचे यशस्वी प्रात्यक्षिक घेतले.
या प्रणालीच्या अत्यंत उत्कृष्ट कामगिरीमुळे जी२० परिषदेदरम्यान बीआरटी बस थांबे व मार्गांची स्वछता करण्यासाठी या यंत्रणेचा वापर करण्यात आला.
आमच्या कर्मचार्यांच्या या नाविन्यपूर्ण निर्मितीचे आणि कल्पनेचे पीएमपीएमएलतर्फे मनस्वी अभिनंदन.
PMPML
The vehicle is fitted with a 1 horsepower (1 HP) motor, a 2,000 litre Sintex tank and a service pipe. The bus is then driven to the bus stop and pressure washed.
According to Shri Mulani, Dahatonde, and Mane, the plan is convert older buses of the depot to such cleaning vehicles and use it to keep bus stops across the twin cities clean. A trial was conducted at the Akurdi BRTS stop. Passengers too appreciated the clean bus stop.
The rear of the PMPML Washing Service Van of the Pimpri Depot (Screengrab from PMPML’s video)
Okay, this might sound odd but one please do read on. It’s been over seven years since I wrote on anything related to Fire and Emergency Services. Interestingly, the only time I wrote on the subject was a poem about a firetruck (linked at the bottom).
Anyhow, getting back on topic, one thing off late I’ve noticed is an increasing number of fires in Mumbai, especially in and around Andheri. I was having a conversation on this matter with the friendly folks at the Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Association (ALOCA) because a fire broke out earlier in the day (18 December) at a building near Lokhandwala Circle.
I just did a Twitter search for the world “fire” from ALOCA’s Twitter account and I counted no fewer than five fires in 2022 that they had reported. Now, the nearest fire station is the Andheri Fire Station that is located on Swami Vivekananda Road (SV Road) near Irla, approximately 1km south of Andheri station. The next fire station is the Goregaon Fire Station that lies behind the Goregaon/Oshiwara bus depots. Andheri East is served by the Marol Fire Station that is located at Marol Naka.
A cursory search revealed that the K-East and K-West wards were the most populated wards as per the 2001 census. Assuming a uniform growth rate, that would mean that the K wards remain among the most populated regions in the city.
Now I was reading up a report on Hindustan Times about a fire that took place in early 2022 at the Chitrakoot grounds on Link Road between DN Nagar and Lokhandwala. A film set caught fire resulting in the death of a 32-year old labourer. Now what is interesting is that a portion of the grounds was reserved to build the Mumbai Fire Brigade’s Ambivali Fire Station as part of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai’s (MCGM) Development Plan for 2034.
The plot in question belongs to the state government and in 2009 the MCGM had issued a commencement certificate to a private developer for construction of the fire station but it had since been cancelled due to a delay (or as we know it better, no action) on the part of the developer. The developer meanwhile has taken the entire plot on lease from the state government.
Due to heavy traffic in the region, which has now gone up since the closure of the Gokhale Bridge (one road closure has ripple effects, remember), it can take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour for a fire tender to reach the Lokhandwala region which has numerous high-rises, malls, and shopping centres in the locality. The plot was reserved for a fire station over 20 years ago.
The plot meanwhile is used for a variety of commercial purposes from weddings to film shoots to cricket turfs and what not. Rents are lucrative too, and I have been told that cricket alone fetches anywhere upwards of ₹10,000 an hour.
With the polls to the MCGM looming, right now is the time to make noise about this. When political parties announce their respective candidates, please approach them and make sure that they promise it in their manifesto. That is the first step. If the candidate isn’t approachable, then it’s best you vote for someone else. Given that the Mayor of Mumbai has been from the Shiv Sena from 1996, I’d say there is limited scope of getting them to build one. Approach your MLA, especially if they’re part of the government. Andheri West residents, please approach Ameet Satam the local MLA while Versova residents please approach Dr Bharti Lavekar, both of whom are part of the ruling government. The advantage of having staggered elections is that if the person who you voted for in the MCGM isn’t doing good, you can avoid voting for them in the general election to the Parliament or the Legislative Assembly.
If you’re interested in reading the poem I wrote on a Firetruck, you can read it here: The Little Red Firetruck
Featured Image: MAN Firetruck of the Mumbai Fire Brigade at JVPD Circle (Photo: Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
This is a rather long article. I’d recommend you please read the entire thing before cursing me. Also, where I have begged you to click a link and read, please do?
Not too long ago, we were fed an idea of this futuristic transport system that was really high-speed in nature and had the potential to disrupt the very way we imagined commuting. The idea was so radical that we were even told that it could go up to 1220 km/hr (760 miles apparently). Imagine that. Imagine doing Mumbai to Chennai in a little over an hour. You could have Kande Pohe for breakfast, take a ride, go have some filter coffee and then get back to work.
This radical idea even had a radically different name – one which made no sense whatsoever – the Hyperloop. Of course, while billions of dollars were spent in various proposals, with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) even going so far as setting up a Centre of Excellence for Hyperloop Technology (CoEHT) at IITM to develop the Avishkar Hyperloop, it eventually was reported that SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk allegedly came up with the Vactrain-based concept to scuttle the California High-Speed Rail project. While I may not be the best to judge on this matter, the Hyperloop sadly has not evolved into a real thing, at least not yet. Till then, here’s Elon Musk’s napkin sketch of what his interpretation of George Medhurst’s 1799 concept looks like.
Elon Musk’s napkin sketch of the Hyperloop
A few years later, came another idea, again from Musk. This time, he got stuck in traffic and decided that he would bore his way out. And so he set about creating a very Boring venture. No, really, he started the Boring Company.
It all sounded good, and then it became essentially a system of tunnels for cars. I had written about it too, back then. Read about it here. Two years later amidst criticism, he announced that the system would prioritise public transport and those without cars. I wrote about that too. You can read it here, on Swarajya.
I think the culmination of Elon Musk’s boring idea and my idle mind during the lockdown, combined with the utter antipathy from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vinash Vikash Aghadi government resulted in me writing one of my most blockbuster satire stories ever: In the absence of a depot, Mumbai Metro 3 to run BEST buses in the tunnel. But clearly, it didn’t go anywhere. Here is a picture of the Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVVC) Loop built by TBC.
Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVVC) Loop
Musk (again, yes, I know) then came up with a concept from the spaceX Starship called the BFR, aka the Big Falcon Rocket, aka the Big Fucking Rocket (as he said it) which he claimed could be used to do a trip from Delhi to Tokyo in 30 minutes. Not a bad idea, but it will probably take you twice that to get to Delhi Airport or wherever a rocket from Delhi would take off. Of course, this means Chhole Bhature for breakfast and Sushi for lunch. Win-win no? Here is a picture of that too.
SpaceX illustration of the 2018 Big Falcon Rocket at stage separation
Now, after boring you for nearly 500 words about Elon Musk, let me bring you to what I really wanted to talk about.
For those of you who are fans of Rowan Atkinson, you might already have an idea of what I am going to talk about. No, I’m not talking about the alien spaceship from Mr Bean. I’m not talking about The Thin Blue Line, Blackadder or the Glass Elevator from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. If you’ve seen Johnny English Reborn, you know what I’m talking about.
The future of transportation comes from Volkswagen. Yes, the same company that was founded by acolytes of a certain Adolf Hitler, disabled their vehicles’ emission control systems outside of test environments (fondly known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate) and recently became the choice of Charmed actress Alyssa Milano who ditched her Tesla for a WV in support of free speech and to reject hatred and what not. I could go on but describing a libbu is tedious work.
Volkswagen Norway’s Commercial Vehicles team designed the as-yet unnamed device, the office chair. You know what they said about it?
The chair is designed to give those who work in an office a feeling of what it’s like to have a car from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as your workplace. You can drive, honk and listen to music – even signal as you take a turn into a meeting room.
Volkswagen
Oh yeah! The chair is here.
Volkswagen Office Chair
The chair can do around 20 km/hr and has a detachable battery and can do up to 12km on a full charge. Now that’s a bit of a let down, if you ask me. But this is indeed the future of transportation. And while people like me predicted six years ago that Handicar would be the future (at this point, I urge you to click this link, read and laugh, please), it turns out Eric Cartman sitting on a mobility scooter is closer to reality.
Eric Cartman on a Mobility Scooter
This is quite a breakthrough. Unfortunately, fans of super agent Johnny English may not be able to quite replicate what he did with the wheelchair with the WVchair. See what I did there? No? Me neither.
If you don’t remember what Agent English did, here is a visual reminder of what Agent English did.
However, this is a breakthrough. A major major breakthrough. Why, you ask? It’s simple. Whenever a company does something that is different from what it actually does, the results are interesting. Imagine if Apple manufactured a jetpack (or something similar, as Aapil Sathukudinathan discovered here, please read) or if Microsoft built software to count vehicles at Toll Plazas (oh wait, that was Traf-O-Data) or McDonald’s used the excess fat from their kitchen to power vehicles. This is as significant as Rolls Royce manufacturing honey! No kidding here though, Rolls Royce actually sold honey from bees at their apiary.
Rolls Royce Honey
So get ready. Get ready to ditch every mode of public and private transport that you have ever used in your life. It’s time for you to embrace the sedentary lifestyle of a software engineer and sit on your chair all day long as you go from one place to another.
If you’re on Twitter, do share this link and tag Elon Musk. Maybe he might invest in my potential transport-based startup. And also ask him to restore my old Twitter account, given his talks on free speech.
The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking will soon rationalise a few bus routes so that they ‘merge’ with others and thus can help commuters change buses easier, reportsShashank Rao for the Free Press Journal.
Under this new hub and spoke model, bus routes will converge at key areas, allowing for streamlined traffic and better changeovers for passengers. In order to implement this plan, the undertaking will require 4,852 buses. It currently has only 3,242.
What all does the plan entail?
The plan involves five nodal points each in the island city and Western suburbs and four in the Eastern suburbs. They are Colaba, Backbay, Worli, Mahim and Dadar in the south, Bandra, Santacruz, Goregaon, Dindoshi and Dahisar in the West and Sion, Mulund, Anushakti Nagar and Ghatkopar in the East. Different routes will converge at these nodal points, allowing passengers to seamlessly change routes.
Further, bus operations will be divided into five corridors. There is a main corridor, a sub-corridor, an east-west corridor and rail-feeder corridor. The last one will also see an expansion once Metro Lines 2 and 7 are operational.
What is the hub and spoke model?
The hub and spoke model, as opposed to the point-to-point model is where a certain geographical region has a point that acts as a hub. Multiple routes converge at the hub , thus allowing an exchange of passengers from one route to another. The model is heavily used in aviation where flights along lesser served routes arrive at a hub and passengers then transfer to another flight.
In the current context, an example of the hub and spoke model (partially) would be people taking the suburban line to either Andheri or Ghatkopar and then boarding the Metro Line 1.
BEST’s plan to go for a hub and spoke model would augur well for commuters.
Featured Image: Buses parked at Agarkar Chowk in 2018, viewed from the skywalk by Srikanth Ramakrishnan
With the ongoing lockdown causing a strain on the finances of public transport operators, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) is now looking at raising revenue through alternative means. After a well-thought idea to monetise bus stops with shops was ridiculed over flimsy reasons, the corporation is now looking at starting parcel services within its operational region according to a report by the Indian Express.
PMPML chief executive officer Rajendra Jagtap has said that the corporation is exploring new revenue sources to sustain itself. It is looking at running courier services on a revenue sharing basis with a private partner. While PMPML itself will handle the main transportation of goods, the private entity would handle last mile connectivity and loading and unloading of goods within the depots.
Jagtap added that the Corporation’s current fleet of buses can handle the load with a designated space near the rear entry or the driver’s compartment. Parcels will be loaded and unloaded at depots.
PMPML currently covers 300 routes across 1,900km within the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) that includes the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits, the Pune Cantonment, Khadki Cantonment and Dehu Road Cantonment limits along with 100 villages and towns in the vicinity. Buses run for 19 hours in a day till midnight, carrying 11 lakh passengers in a day.
Last week, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) launched a tender worth ₹45 crore under the Smart Cities Mission to set up 1,500 smart bus stops which included a 5x5x7 feet shop and kiosk. According officials of the corporation, the aim of this plan is to monetise bus stops, which makes sense given that the PMPML is currently sitting with a financial deficit of ₹600 crores.
However, the move has not gone down with certain people. Various groups including women’s organisations and others (interestingly described as ‘sundry’ by Pune Mirror in its not-so-neutral report) are opposing the move on rather flimsy grounds. They claim that the stalls will attract paan, bidi, gutka and cigarette shops which in turn will invite loiterers who might cause an inconvenience to female commuters. They have demanded that the corporation junk the plan and look at advertising and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
While advertising is lucrative, it’s scope is limited. As for CSR, the lesser said, the better. Now, the important question is, why is this move important. PMPML wants to implement these new bus shelters on all the bus rapid transit system (BRTS; also known as Rainbow) corridors as well as on major prime routes. It requires a total of 4,200 shelters across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and currently has only 1,996 shelters and that figure includes 749 stainless steel shelters (similar to the ones in Mumbai) and 110 BRTS shelters.
The argument that this move will only attract paan-bidi stalls is an assumption. So far, no bus station (except maybe a few in scattered rural parts of India) has a paan-bidi or gutka stall on its premises. The same goes for metro stations. Along with this comes a question: Which paan-bidi stall will go thru a government bidding process to set up a stall when the proprietor can easily set up a stall elsewhere. Next point: Most such stalls are invariably located next to our just outside a restaurant or a bar, often attached to them but accessible from the outside. That’s where the business comes. People go there after drinking or eating. Why would they come to a bus stop if the profit motive is limited?
Going forward that this opposition is based on an assumption, let us review some precedents.
In 2015, the Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL), facing increasing losses decided to start renting out space to banks to set up ATMs. Then, it went a step further and approved a plan to set up a tea stall that would sell refreshments and soft drinks at Maninagar and Nehrunagar Janmarg stations. Of course it is important to note that AJL uses off-board ticketing using AFC gates, much like a metro rail system. The PMPML meanwhile does not have such a system in place for the BRTS. The onus on ensuring that the shops are rented out to the right people lies on the PMPML, but having said that, they would not be stupid enough to rent them out to paan shops.
Taking a leaf out of metro systems’ books across the country; many of them have turned to non-fare revenue to offset losses. This includes auctioning off naming rights of stations, something not feasible for bus stops, advertising on the bus shelters and of course, retailing. This is not just limited to India, it is seen globally at various metro systems across. The largest success stories of this are in Delhi, Mumbai and of course Chennai.
If people are concerned with the size of the shop, that’s the size of many shops on the Mumbai Metro and even the Chennai Metro. The Jai Shree Radhe Soda Pub on the Mumbai Metro and Tibbs Frankie outlet on the Chennai Metro are just slightly larger than the size prescribed by the PMPML. But if the AJL could successfully have done it, why not Pune?
With a burgeoning debt that the corporation is sitting on, non-fare revenue is a great way to ease the burden. Opposing good plans with flimsy excuses, not so good.
Featured Image: An old makeshift PMPML bus stop sign from 2015.
If you’re venturing out, please wear a mask and carry sanitiser with you:
Most people say buses are dangerous and hence people won’t take them. However, there is a contrary view to it. Some economists are of the opinion that a more dangerous bus would mean more passengers. Do they board for the thrill of it?
Let’s ask Alex Tabarrok shall we?
Let’s Make Buses More Dangerous so People Will Ride Them
Buses are much safer than cars, by about a factor of 67, but they’re not very popular. If you look at situations where people who can afford private transit take mass transit instead, speed is the main factor (ex: airplanes, subways).
So we should look at ways to make buses faster so more people will ride them, even if this means making them somewhat more dangerous.
Here are some ideas, roughly in order from “we should definitely do this” to “this is crazy, but it would probably still reduce deaths overall when you take into account that more people would ride the bus”:
Don’t require buses to stop and open their doors at railroad crossings.
Allow the driver to start while someone is still at the front paying.
Allow buses to drive 25mph on the shoulder of the highway in traffic jams where the main lanes are averaging below 10mph.
Higher speed limits for buses. Lets say 15mph over.
Leave (city) bus doors open, allow people to get on and off any time at their own risk.
Excellent recognition of tradeoffs. Pharmaceuticals should also be more dangerous.
Meet the Boat-Bus! Yes. Or atleast that’s what they’re calling it.
Two separate Boat-Buses made their appearance in the last two months, one in Punjab and one in Lucknow. Both are the exact opposites of each other.
Presenting The Harike, Punjab’s Boat-Bus for tourists in the Harike wetlands.
The Harike Water Bus. Image via Twitter.
At first glance, anyone who sees this picture will say: “Wait, what? That looks like a Banana on Wheels!”.
Personally, I’m confused whether it is a boat with wheels or a mini-van shaped like a boat. Functionally, it is both. There is a ramp that leads it into the water from where it functions as a boat. Something like a Hovercraft, one might say.
While Aesthetics seem to have taken a backseat here, it is functional enough. One just hopes that it does not capsize in the water.
Now, presenting Lucknow’s Water-Bus.
Lucknow Water Bus. Image via Facebook.
It’s a boat. Yes. A covered boat. Lucknow, by virtue of being on the banks of the Gomti river has managed to get a functional water transport system due to start commercial operations by this month.
What confuses me is where there is so much water in Gomti river and why is there so much water pouring down from the bridge? Are they filling the river? I know this is possible in Ahmedabad because the Sabarmati is designed like a giant drain, but does Uttar Pradesh have the wherewithall for such a thing?
It would be nice to someday see the Yamuna, Ganga, and Kaveri be cleaned up. Cities like Delhi, Kanpur, Varanasi, Erode and Thiruchchirapalli (Trichy) too can then set up their own water transport systems.
As I had outlined in a previous post, on the basis of Pune and Ahmedabad, any Indian city that lies on the banks of a major river can get itself a good water transport system. Further, cities on the coast, mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Panaji, Mormugao, and Mangalore should get hovercrafts. Water transport is slowly getting more prominence in the country. Mumbai is getting a terminal for water-based Ro-Ro transport. Rolling Highways are one thing, but Floating Highways? Why not. If we can have a Konkan Railway, why not a Konkan Waterway.
It’s high time, we start innovating and looking at newer modes of transport. The Hyperloop concept is still eons away. Till then, let us focus on more terrestrial transport, which doesn’t necessarily have to be on land. As they say, Water is the Basis of Life.
It claims to be issued by the Children Bank of India
It claims its value is One Hundred Coupon
The guarantee on it says ‘I promise to play with the coupon hundred’.
It is signed by Santa Claus.
Now, while we leave the analysis of the note to the experts at BuzzFeed and ScoopWhoop, we are left wondering about something else.
It is 2016. Cashless payment is here. UPI is here. Jio is here. RFID Cards are here. Uber and Ola are also here. PayTM and MobiKwik are here. Why pay with Cash?
The excuse that some people may not have a bank account, or a phone is no longer a valid argument, atleast not in India’s largest city.
There are two ways of achieving cashless payments:
The Physical Method
This is simple. An RFID card. BEST has a prepaid smart card in place for buses. Mumbaikars would know by now that there are FOUR prepaid cards available in the city: One for BEST, one for the Suburban Railway, one for the Metro and one for the Monorail. While the erstwhile Go Mumbai Smart Card that was scrapped in 2011 was valid on both BEST and the Suburban Rail, the RTA has mooted a common mobility card for all forms of transit. If this comes into play, this can be extended to auto-rickshaws too. Mumbai’s much, much younger sibling Ahmedabad has already raced ahead by enabling autos to be part of the Smart Card system. Of course, this will work only in a few cities. The Greater Mumbai Region, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, and to a certain extent Bengaluru, are among the few cities where one can find autowalas return even the last rupee change to the passenger. Delhi’s autos, with its fancy GPS enabled fare-meters NEVER ply by meter, so the chances of them accepting a prepaid card is close to zero. Gurgaon, and other areas, well, don’t even have a fare-meter in the vehicle, so tough luck.
The Digital Method
Again, Mumbaikars would know this well. The UTS app by the Centre for Railway Information Systems [CRIS] allows commuters to buy tickets and Season Passes using an Android phone and a mobile wallet. Of course, it has its own share of problems. This is also the model followed by Uber and Ola for non-cash rides. All one requires for this is a prepaid wallet and a phone. While Ola chose to partner with ZipCash, Uber chose to partner with PayTM. In some cities, autowalas have PayTM QR codes affixed to their vehicles, all the passenger needs to do is open the app, scan the code and transfer the amount. Walah!
The Bottom Line
We are not a poor nation. We are not a third-world nation. When we have advanced so much to the extent of having prepaid cards for bus tickets, and also buying suburban rail tickets on the phone, why can’t we slowly do away with cash based transit systems?
