Anand Mahindra, the chairman of Mahindra Group, has shared a video that shows how 105 bus stops in Mumbai will be renovated in the coming months. The renovated bus stops will not only have a sleeker design but they will also have features like an exercise bar and their rooftop will be utilised to increase the city’s green cover. While sharing the video Saturday, the billionaire, who often shares innovative ideas about urban planning, wrote, “Finally, Mumbai will get world-class Bus stops to replace the eyesores that have been blots on the landscape. Terrific to also see innovative features like the exercise bar & the ‘cool’ green tops. Bravo @AUThackeray @IqbalSinghChah2”. Finally, Mumbai will get world-class Bus stops to replace the eyesores that have been blots on the landscape. Terrific to also see innovative features like the exercise bar & the ‘cool’ green tops. Bravo @AUThackeray @IqbalSinghChah2 pic.twitter.com/VkqRcirdNJ — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) April 16, 2022 Aaditya Thackeray, the Minister of Tourism in Maharashtra, replied to the tweet and said, “Thank you @anandmahindra ji. The idea is to ensure comfortable public transport and a better sense of design aesthetic for our cities. So while we increase our AC electric bus fleet, we are also ensuring our bus stops get better, for all citizens" Thank you @anandmahindra ji. The idea is to ensure comfortable public transport and a better sense of design aesthetic for our cities. So while we increase our AC electric bus fleet, we are also ensuring our bus stops get better, for all citizens ☺️🙏🏻 — Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) April 17, 2022 However, not all netizens were impressed with the prospect of new bus stops, with their main concern being the maintenance of such public infrastructure projects. People pointed out how such high tech bus stops will be rendered useless or damaged after some months because they will not be maintained by the authorities. Innovative ways to waste taxpayer money, having failed to upkeep these at Shivaji Park — kuldeep sikarwar (@kuldeepsikarwar) April 16, 2022 Design features can include built-in WiFi,mobilephone charging points, interactive smart boards to provide bus info content,e-books, journey planners,a green roof,solar panels,bicycle parking,a book exchange corner,& even a swing. It can also showcase artwork #CSR #SMARTNATION 👇 pic.twitter.com/9gmWyxDDOx — Manoj K Jha aka Manu 😷 (@manojgjha) April 16, 2022 In Bangalore, they have building beautiful bus stops but the problem is of maintaince. After sometime one cannot even recognize if there was a bus stop. Our major problem is with maintaince. It is zero. — Alka Jacob (@AlkaJacob1) April 16, 2022 LoL. The problem is not that we didn't had a new design bus stops in the past. The problem is that no proper care and maintenance was provided to it. New bus stops have small plant garden on top of it, within a few months they all will dry up and the new will be old, and waste. — Ritesh Mahato (@Dream_machine12) April 16, 2022 Sir, I'm not opposing this concept, but it requires maintenance, Initially corporation or sponsors will take care, slowly it will be ignored with that waste of time, money and efforts. Insted of that both sides of bus stop they should grow big trees like neem, ragi, . — Sreedhar Gupta T (@stommund) April 17, 2022 Let's see how long @mybmc maintains it properly. Also, can @AUThackeray comment here about setup and maintenance cost of these bus stops? What is the tendor amount and to whom it is given? When we will know this info, then we can decide if these bus stops are world class or not — Logical Punekar (@AstuteEngineer) April 16, 2022 Good query which I asked too. Apparently, for this one & a few around parks, they’ll have the green rooftops and side bars since it’s open space but will install solar panels on other rooftops where feasible. Their main idea is to have bus stops that are clean & neat in design. pic.twitter.com/CEnUByp9BJ — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) April 16, 2022 Echoing this sentiment, a person wrote, “Innovative ways to waste taxpayer money, having failed to upkeep these at Shivaji Park”. Some people also suggested a few design changes to the bus stops, such as replacing the green rooftop with solar panels, which can make them more practical for use.
