Mumbai: BEST to purchase new double deckers

A senior official from BEST said, “These buses with a carrying capacity of 140 passengers are ideal for ferrying large number of people from railway stations to business districts like CSMT-Nariman Point, Bandra Station/Kurla Station-Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).”

According to officials, BEST will initially place an order to procure 50 double decker buses to replace the first batch of buses to be phased out. “The chassis of these buses have been made by Ashok Leyland, which is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and their body has been made by Anthony Garages. We’ll see if the body and engine have to be made separately or will be given to their OEM,” said a senior BEST official.

In the meanwhile, BEST is also working out a plan to sell the phased out buses to various self-help groups, especially women self-help groups, that will be interested in running mobile eating joints. “Various self-help groups have approached us earlier asking for these buses. We are planning to give them to such groups instead of selling them for scrap, which would hardly fetch any money,” the official added.

According to transport expert AV Shenoy, these double decker buses have great heritage value and a minimum fleet size should be maintained — but they have individual operation constraints as well. “As these buses have only one entry and exit door, it’s a challenge for passengers of both the upper and lower deck to board and alight. Besides, the single decker with two steps are more convenient for senior citizens, women and children,” said Shenoy.

When contacted, general manager of BEST Dr. Surendrakumar Bagde said, “We are scrapping these buses but not stopping their operations.”