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Mumbai: Plans that remained ideas at best

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A few years ago, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) had come out with slew of ambitious plans to change the face of its fleet despite mounting losses. Five years down the line, dna takes stock of those promises and their outcome.

Duck buses
An amphibious bus along the lines of those in other international cities like Amsterdam, London and Seattle was planned for Mumbai. But it may not see the light of day anytime in the near future. If BEST officials are to be believed, the undertaking never got clearance to take the project forward from the Maharashtra Maritime Board. The idea was to charge Rs100 during non-peak hours and Rs150 during rush hours and ply between the Gateway of India and Mahim. In August 2009, the BEST standing committee had given its consent to the project with an aim to earn Rs80,000 per month by outsourcing the operation and maintenance.

Helipads
Another dream was to lease out space and have helipads inside 24 bus depots in Mumbai, which was later cut short to four depots — Backbay, Dharavi, Gorai and Worli. A private player was to fly helicopters ferrying office goers and tourists for Rs1,500 per person and giving BEST Rs50,000 per month on and above Rs5,000-7,500 per landing and take-off at the depots. However, the Indian Navy shot the proposal down, saying that in a city full of high-rises any untoward incident in the air would have catastrophic results.

AC double-decker buses
In 2009, the BEST with much fanfare had announced that it would get 100 air-conditioned double-decker buses on Mumbai’s roads, akin to that of London. Initially, 10 such buses were to be introduced to test the waters, but till date, not a single bus has been procured. The idea was to allow an advertisement agency to operate 100 of the fully air-conditioned buses in lieu of advertising rights on the buses and at bus stops.

AC bus shelters
Yet another project that bit the dust was to get air-conditioned bus shelters at various locations of Mumbai. The proposal, cleared in 2009, was to set up shelters at 40 locations, along with ATMs and snack-vending machines. BEST planned to outsource the bus shelters in lieu of advertising space, wherein the undertaking would get  Rs8,000 per month from each of the bus shelters. The failure of the project is being blamed on lack of space on pavements and narrrow footpaths, and pending permission from the traffic department.
 
Fake King Longs
All these projects were conceived when Uttam Khobragade was the general manager of BEST. Even the so-called ‘King Long’ buses were purchased during his tenure, and due to high breakdown rates and poor quality of the buses, these 290 buses are now becoming difficult for BEST to maintain. The latest plan is to remove it out of their fleet in a phased manner.

profit making routes
169 Worli Depot to Pratiksha Nagar
313 Kurla Station (W) to Santacruz Station (East)
340 Ghatkopar Station (W) to Agarkar Chowk, Andheri Station (E)

In April 2006, there were 227 double-deckers in the BEST fleet. Now, 122 remain

 

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