Mumbai: Brand new e-buses arrive for your ride

The electric buses that have arrived in the city. Pic/Gandharva Purohit

A brand new fleet of 25 electric buses has finally arrived from the manufacturing facility at Dharwad, and was seen queued at toll booths to enter the city. The new Tata Starbus Urban EV buses have been inducted in the fleet procured under the Central Government's FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles) policy. The 12-metre long, 35-seater Tata Starbus AC electric buses, part of a larger order of 340 buses, are equipped with advanced features.

BEST Chairman Ashish Chemburkar and General Manager Lokesh Chandra had said that the Undertaking was looking at increasing the fleet of electric buses in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuel, and experts had congratulated them saying it would be apt that a power company runs electric buses.

The fully electric buses come with Intelligent Transport System (ITS), telematics system, regenerative braking system, amongst other features for efficient and smooth operations. The delivery is part of the first ever Gross Cost Contract (GCC) by BEST. Tata Motors will be undertaking to build, deploy, maintain and operate the complete charging infrastructure along with the buses.

As per the overall plan, a total of 1,800 electric buses will be procured by the BEST by mid-2023. The buses will be procured in a phased manner and will then be introduced across routes in the city. A senior transport official said that the buses can travel up to 200 kilometres with one single charge. "BEST is building electric vehicle charging stations in its bus depots and stations. Two of them at Dharavi and Worli are ready," he added.

"In times where the BEST fleet is facing issues regarding shortage of single deck buses, these long EVs have saved the day by arriving at the right moment. Hoping the BEST will focus on procuring more such electric buses in the double decker segment as well," transport observer Gandharva Purohit from GP Busfanning said.

Transport expert Ashok Datar said that e-buses were the way to go, as they get heavy subsidies from central government (about Rs 65 lakh and state government about R20 lakh ratio) and that it will turn the tables of the finances as continuing route operations, it will cut down on the fuel costs.

BEST routes rationalised from today

BEST has rationalised its route network with effect from September 1 to improve level of services. New corridor routes have been introduced to enable Mumbaikars to travel in buses at better frequency (less than 15 minutes on most routes) and improved connectivity, said officials. Local feeder routes too have been strengthened. Most of the routes have been realigned as per changing COVID-19 travel patterns, opening of Metro lines from October in western suburbs and local train connectivity links.

Selective amnesia by govt.? Why not electric vehicles?

Transport experts questioned the Maharashtra government's move on procuring 76 new fuel vehicles when the government itself has unveiled a major electric vehicle policy. "The government has forgotten its own policy for its vehicles. Why are the 76 new vehicles not on electric power as per their own policy? This looks like a case of selective amnesia," a senior transport expert said.