For office-goers, non-stop,AC fleet from BEST

‘Green Bus’,a pilot project,will roll out from Dahisar,Borivli,Kandivli and Malad in the next two months to commercial hubs in South Mumbai and BKC. Each bus,with a capacity of 50,will pick up commuters and zoom across the 15 flyovers on the Western Express Highway. There will be a bus every 3 minutes at the four stops. They will be painted green to be identified as a high-speed,non-stop service for office-goers.

“We are positively considering the pilot project,which can start a month later. If the response is good,we will continue it. Otherwise we will roll it back,” said General

Manager,BEST,Uttam Khobragade.

The plan prepared by traffic experts and activists Ashok Datar,Sherley Singh,Sonali Kelkar and Jagdeep Desai is being backed by MP Sanjay Nirupam. “It will work for commuters and BEST. All we need is some dedicated low-floor AC buses,” Nirupam said.

Around 144 buses will be required,which Nirupam said will be sought from BEST from the 1,000 new low-floor buses brought through JNNURM funding.

He added that the target was high-income office-goers who take cars to workplaces. “Since trains are packed in peak hours and there are no comfortable road transport modes,people take cars. We want to provide them an alternative. They will reach office in an hour. Traffic will reduce automatically,” he said.

According to the plan,the service will keep 6,000 car users off roads and reduce pollution. Sherley Singh said 3,000 tonne of carbon dioxide can be reduced per day if car-users switch to the Green Bus,thus earning carbon credits for the city.

A single ride will cost around Rs 100. A monthly pass will cost Rs 5,000.

For the middle-class office-goer a non-AC service will be started in the second phase.