Midi buses can’t drive over inclined roads: Commuters

The new fleet of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport’s midi buses seems to be scared of heights, reports Rajendra Aklekar.

The new fleet of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport’s (BEST) midi buses seems to be scared of heights.

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The Compressed Natural Gas-(CNG) run 125 midi buses just cannot run on inclined roads and hills, such as Vikhroli, Ghatkopar village, Malabar Hill and Peddar Road.

This is why all 25 depots across the city, where midi buses halt, have withdrawn the services during peak hours.

The CNG-run midi buses, which conform to the Euro-III norms, were introduced in October 2007.

The 25-seater buses were introduced on routes that pass through narrow lanes and by-lanes where regular buses find it difficult to turn or drive through.

But commuters complain that midi buses are always overcrowded.

Nayana Shah (34), an executive from Vikhroli, avoids the green-stripped CNG-run midi buses as she “loses her seat in the middle of the journey”.

The 603 route between Bhandup village and Vikhroli depot is always crowded during morning peak hours.

Every morning, when the midi bus neared the Vikhroli station junction, that is at an incline, it would halt.

The driver and conductor would then ask all passengers to step down, drive up the incline, and then ask the passengers to get back in and resume the journey.

“This was a daily ritual till someone complained to the Vikhroli depot. Now they send a regular bus during morning peak hours,” Shah said.

Making a note of the route number 603, BEST chairman Dilip Patel said, “There could be various problems. We shall look into the issue.”

Similar cases have been reported on the Malabar Hill route where many CNG buses slow down at Peddar Road.

A retired engineer from BEST said the CNG buses face this problem as they are heavier than regular diesel buses and are good enough for “straight routes and good roads.”

“This is the why we have avoided introducing CNG double-deck buses. A loaded double-deck CNG-run bus will not be able to run smoothly. You may notice a live example will be an old Premier taxi that is run on CNG. It slows down as it climbs a flyover,” he added.