Stripped of insulating film, BEST buses ’face the heat’

Following RTO order, films bearing advertisements have been removed from bus fa ades, leading to a loss of revenue, and increased temperature inside

Stripped of insulating film, BEST buses 'face the heat'

Following RTO order, films bearing advertisements have been removed from bus facades, leading to a loss of revenue, and increased temperature inside

The fight for the coveted window seats is now a thing of the past, ever since the BEST buses, acting on the directives given by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), removed the films that would protect the commuters from the glare of the scorching sun.
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According to the Central Motor Vehicle Act of 1989, only 50 per cent of the windows on the sides of the buses, and 100 per cent of their front and back screens can be covered by film.

The TMC's air-conditioned buses can still be spotted with advertisements

The RTO had sent a notice to the BEST authorities to remove the advertisements pasted on the facade of its 270 air conditioned buses, by April 1, acting on which the transport body removed the same.

Nandkumar Walavalkar, public relations officer from BEST, confirmed that the body had received a notice from the Tardeo RTO office in the month of March.

He went on to say that the body had duly removed all the films bearing advertisements from their air-conditioned buses.

But the removal of the ads had led to a loss of revenue for the transport body. Moreover, the removal of the advertisement films has exposed the scratched facade of the buses, repainting of which would prove to be a costly venture.

While the BEST authorities have done their 'best' to adhere to the stipulated norms, the fleet of buses owned by the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) and Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) can still be seen sporting advertisements.

The Thane Regional Transport Officer said, "We have already sent letters to the authorities of both transport bodies, and are awaiting a response from them."

GC Mangle, the General Manager of NMMT, and Shrikant Sharmukhdam, the Transport Manager of TMT, confirmed that they had received notices from the Thane RTO office.

TMT authorities, however, have gone ahead and plastered their own advertisements on their air-conditioned buses for the duration of a month, purportedly to shelter the commuters from the scorching heat.

On the need to protect the commuters from the heat, Walavalkar said, "We have to replace the existing window panes with new ones made of tinted glass.

However, this is a time-consuming process that will take time. We put forward our proposal to the committee members on May 5 and are yet to receive their response.
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Many complaints also have been received by commuters who have to sit in the direct glare of the sun, with no film on the windowpanes buffering the intensity of the sun's rays.