India's First All-Electric Bus Service In Mumbai
Anushka Singh | Mumbai
India's first all-electric premium city bus service is set to help thousands of Mumbaikars shift from self-driven cars and cabs, and drive many cars off the roads. Starting tomorrow, on 12 December 2022, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport's (BEST) premium bus service on the Thane-Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) route, called the BEST Chalo Bus, is being rolled out with four air-conditioned, zero-emission electric buses that promise convenient and comfortable rides.
The service set to run from Monday through Saturday has been initiated on one all-day route and one express route as a part of Phase 1.
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| Union Minister Nitin Gadkari at the launch of Electric Double Decker Bus in Mumbai |
The buses on the express route will ply from Thane to BKC every 30 minutes between 7 am and 8.30 am and from BKC to Thane from 5.30 pm to 7 pm. On the all-day route, buses will ply along the BKC-Bandra Station route between 8.50 am and 5.50 pm and in the reverse direction between 9.25 am and 6.25 pm.
The buses will not have any bus conductors as they will be completely digitised and commuters can use the tap-in tap-out facility. They will stop only if a passenger is to be picked up, based on a reservation booked on the Chalo app thereby guaranteeing faster travel with fewer stops. Also, as opposed to the traditional bus service, they do not permit standing travel.
# All-electric air-conditioned service will have USB chargers and luxury seats.
# They can be tracked live ensuring commuters reach their stop in time to catch the bus.
# There is option for flexible rescheduling and cancelling too.
# Travel subscriptions help commuters save up to 50 per cent on daily travel expenses.
How To Travel
You may download the BEST Chalo app and tap on Chalo Bus. Enter the source and destination to get the route list with the schedule of the buses. Pick the bus of your choice, according to the time of travel. You can either pay per ride or pay with a long-term plan and reserve your seat.
Once you reserve a seat, you can find it on the home screen of the app, under the Upcoming Reserved Trips section. Press Tap to Board and furnish your booking ID to validate the reservation.
The app will also have a Home Reach feature, wherein passengers can provide details like a home address along with an emergency contact and enable the live location.
The BEST control room will track the passengers’ movement after they alight from the bus and if they do not reach their home location in a stipulated time, the control room will call the passengers to check on their whereabouts.
The Fare Structure
BEST has announced a fixed one-way fare for the two routes:
For The All-day route: Bandra Station-BKC: Rs 50
For the Express Route: Bandra Kurla Complex-Thane: Rs 205
In order to encourage more Mumbaikars try the premium bus service, BEST has rolled out a welcome offer that provides five rides at a fraction of the cost of the one-way fare. The offer can be availed by using the app and is valid for seven days.
Route, offer per trip, and price
* All-day route, first five rides for 10 only, Rs 2 each ride
* Express-route, first five rides for 100 only, Rs 20 each ride
Passengers can also avail of travel subscriptions designed to help them save up to 50 per cent on their monthly travel.
This move will be followed by 20 more buses expected to be added to the fleet by December 25 when BEST will provide service on an additional route - from Kharghar to BKC after Christmas.
BEST plans to add 200 more electric buses along busy routes across the city in the months to follow.
Easing Travel In The Past To Struggling To Survive
It was on July 15, 1926 that Mumbai witnessed its first bus run to ease the traffic situation in the city. For many years, buses were regarded as a mode of transportation for the upper-middle class.
Double-decker buses, modelled on the motorised double-decker buses of London, were introduced on 8 December 1937 in Mumbai to keep up with the growing traffic. The first Limited Bus service in Mumbai, possibly the first in the country, began running between Colaba and Mahim in 1940.
By the '60s, 26 bus routes were operating throughout Mumbai and had become one of the city's most distinguishing features popular with tourists and locals alike.
In 1955, India's very own Ashok Leyland, began producing them for the first time since their production by foreign companies like Daimler, AEC (Associated Equipment Company) and Leyland Motors since they were all launched during the British administration.
Over the years, BEST phased out these buses mainly because spare parts were scarce, too expensive to buy, and cumbersome to transport. Also, double-deckers were also becoming economically unviable because of their high fuel consumption.
...And Now, Bus Travel Goes State-Of-The-Art!
In August 2022, Ashok Leyland's electric vehicle arm, Switch Mobility, unveiled India's first and unique electric double-decker air-conditioned bus 'Switch EiV 22.' Designed, developed and manufactured in India and utilising Switch's global electric bus experience, Switch EiV 22 is equipped with the latest technology, ultra-modern design, highest safety and best-in-class comfort features.
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| The initiative is set to boost the sustainable transportation sector (Pic: |
It has a lightweight aluminium body construction, which offers a higher passenger-to-weight ratio and a competitive cost per km per passenger.
It can ferry nearly twice the number of seated passengers as a comparable single-decker bus with just an 18 per cent increase in kerb weight.
Powering Switch EiV 22 is a 231 kWh capacity, 2-string, liquid-cooled, higher density NMC chemistry battery pack with a dual gun charging system.
This battery pack enables the electric double decker to have a range of up to 250 km for intra-city applications.
Switch India has already secured an order of 200 electric double-decker buses in Mumbai.
