BEST to start 8 electric AC buses for Thane and Navi Mumbai commuters

The BEST will start eight new premium AC electric bus routes from Wednesday morning to provide alternatives to office-goers travelling from Navi Mumbai and Thane areas to commercial hubs in the city, general manager Lokesh Chandra announced on Monday. A few buses will be launched from Kurla and Andheri stations."At times, the suburban trains may not be working or delayed due to waterlogging, signal problem, over head equipment (OHE), and more during monsoon. Our buses will be the best alternative. Besides, on a regular basis, it will provide assured seats and AC comfort to office goers travelling long distances to office and will fill up the void of having a road transport from Navi Mumbai to office hubs in BKC and Andheri," he said.The buses to be introduced from May 31st.The buses will run at good frequency from 7 am to 8.30 am and from 5 pm to 7.30 pm.

Meanwhile, The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) has received eight new AC double decker buses over the last seven to 10 days, the recent one being on May 29.Until last week, there were only two such buses in their fleet, which first ran in February. Around 10 days back, two more AC double decker buses were added to the city roads. On Monday, two more AC double decker buses were inducted into BEST’s fleet, taking the total strength of the fleet to eight. “While four AC double decker buses are already running, there are eight more that are awaiting approvals from the RTO. We expect seven additional such buses to arrive next month,” said Lokesh Chandra, general manager, BEST Undertaking. At present, there are around 4,000 passengers who use these AC double-decker buses each day. Each of these buses has a carrying capacity of 90 passengers.