BEST’s plan for Mumbai City

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) is going to implement the GPS-based sms facility for all buses including AC buses on routes in island city and suburbs soon. There are also plans to install electronic display indicators at bus stops. Speaking to TrafficInfraTech, Dr Jagdish Patil, General Manager, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, said, “This facility will help the commuter to get information like the expected time of arrival (ETA) of buses by sending the bus stop code number to a dedicated helpline. Within seconds, he/she will receive information about the buses and the ETA.”

Besides, BEST has also proposed to purchase 50 small buses with 25-40 seats for a convenient travel on Mumbai’s busy roads. These new buses in the BEST fleet will be a metre longer than the regular bus, providing more leg space besides mobile charging points, wi-fi facility, and automatic transmission for driving comfort, in-bus entertainment, new seat design and forced air circulation similar to that in local trains. Each bus will have engine Euro-IV compliant of pollution norms and will reduce pollution levels on city roads. It will have automatic transmission which will put less strain on drivers and the vehicle can be maneuvered with ease. These buses are expected to be on road by March next year.