BEST to operate new hybrid AC buses on Mumbai’s BKC routes from today

In addition to service on five routes that will be opened on March 17, more routes are on the anvil

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking (BEST) will , from today, operate new hybrid electric air-conditioned buses on longer routes from Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) apart from within BKC.

To improve bus connectivity to BKC, the biggest business district of the city, the MMRDA has bought 25 hybrid electric buses. (Representational photo/HT)

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the service from Sahyadri Guest House, Malabar hill on Friday morning.

BEST officials said these buses would start plying the same day following inauguration. “We have planned to run these buses on five routes connecting BKC to the nearest railway stations for first-day operation,” said a senior official of BEST.

The five bus routes are Bandra Terminus-Diamond market, Kurla station-ACBL, Bandra bus station-CA Institute, Sion station-Kalanagar-BKC and Sion station-LBS road-BKC. The BEST official said that some more routes would be announced after the inauguration of the service, besides the fare for these air-conditioned buses. Each bus costs around Rs1.61 crore.

To improve bus connectivity to BKC, the biggest business district of the city, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has bought 25 hybrid electric buses. BEST will operate these buses on behalf of MMRDA and both the parties have signed an agreement to this effect.

Another senior BEST official said the buses would ferry passengers to BKC from areas like Thane, Vashi, Borivli, and Mira-Bhayander in the morning and in the opposite direction on the same routes in the night.

Some of these buses were gathering dust for about six months, as the first batch of these arrived in September. The second batch, of another five buses, arrived in early October and the last batch of the remaining buses arrived later.

Features of the hybrid electric bus:

These Tata Motors-make 32-seater AC buses are low-floored and have facilities such as mobile charging points, digital displays, passenger announcement system, bucket seats, Wi-Fi and automatic fare collection system.

The Bharat Stage IV-compliant buses are run on diesel and electric power. They have advanced lithium-ion phosphate batteries that get recharged while the engine is running. Their electronic braking mechanism also generates power each time the driver hits the brake.