Mumbai: BEST’s 400 CNG buses to hit the roads again soon

Firefighters attempt to douse the fire that broke out on a BEST bus in Andheri. Pic/ANI

The BEST is restoring CNG buses that had been withdrawn from service following a fire incident in a bus on February 22. BEST officials said that only the buses that have been certified fit by the manufacturer's team, which is inspecting the buses, are being brought back. There is a plan to reinduct over 200 buses by the weekend.

BEST General Manager Lokesh Chandra confirmed the development to mid-day. The BEST undertaking had decided to take 400 Tata CNG buses from the fleet off the roads till the operator and manufacturer came up with necessary corrective measures to ensure their safety.

The fire, which was the third such blaze to have broken out in less than two months, occurred around 6.55 pm after a non-AC single-decker on route 415, operated by Mateshwari Ltd, reached its destination, Andheri station. Luckily, the entire crowd had got off. Since these 400 buses catered to 38 feeder routes across the city, over the past 10 days, regular BEST bus commuters had to face a harrowing time.

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A statement two days after the incident revealed that a team of Tata Motors engineers had arrived from Lucknow and was re-examining all these buses for compliance of safety standards and safety norms and that once they completed the examination of safety parameters and gave the necessary clearances and written commitment and assurance of safety norms compliance, these buses would be put to service.

38
No of feeder routes buses cater to