The BEST added 24 electric buses to its fleet. These were inaugurated by Chief Minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday. He also inaugurated the Mahim bus depot. With this, the total number of electric buses in the BEST stands at 270. The BEST has set a target of 1,800 buses, which is 45%, to be converted to electric by mid-2023.
Meanwhile, during the ceremony, the CM announced that a decision to run local trains for all will be taken soon. This comes after the state government received a lot of flak from all quarters for not allowing full-vaccinated people to travel by train.
The e-buses will be gearless and will have a capacity for 35 seating passengers and 24 standees. They will also be GPS enables and will have a panic button, air-suspension and other facilities for a smooth ride. The CM announced that a BEST app and common travel pass for all modes of transport–Metro, bus and railway–will be launched in December. Recently, the BEST had launched a mobile ticketing system.
Uddhav also flagged off the electric buses routes A-115, between CSMT and NCPA via Churchgate and A-116 between CSMT and NCPA via RBI. While only electric buses will ply in the island city, the suburban areas will also go the electric way soon.
The BEST also paid a gratuity of Rs 94.2 crore to 1,005 BEST employees. This was a long-pending demand by retired employees.