[AkMar]

BEST has started getting deliveries of its order of 303 buses from Tata. These are fully built Low floor/Semi low floor buses. The buses appear to have ventilation unit mounted on roof. They have some sort of automatic transmission, most likely to be an AMT unit. Waiting for them to hit the roads now.

Attaching a few pictures from Facebook & Whatsapp. All credits to original photographers.

[vharihar]

Great pics!

But I feel the fully closed front windscreens will be very unpopular amongst drivers in a hot and humid city like Mumbai. With the bonnet also emitting heat, they'd have preferred the conventional windscreens that has the bottom 8" openable, so as to be well ventilated.

[Anwesh]

Originally Posted by vharihar

But I feel the fully closed front windscreens will be very unpopular amongst drivers in a hot and humid city like Mumbai. With the bonnet also emitting heat, they'd have preferred the conventional windscreens that has the bottom 8" openable, so as to be well ventilated.

These type of windscreen are used on BEST MUTP I semi low floor buses that were delivered nearly ten years ago. The AL Janbus and TATA Marcopolo or ACGL that are used by NMMT, TMT, KDMT and MBMT also have these type of windscreens. These buses also ply in Mumbai and drivers have no problems. The heat in cabin is a issue with CNG buses while those MUTP buses and these new ones are all diesel so no such issue. The problem here is the prison van like windows of the passanger saloon area, and the traditional body manufacturing methods that BEST insists on. Large, horizontally sliding windows offer better ventilation to standing passangers in a jam packed bus. BEST tried these type of windows a few years ago, but as they were made with glass fitted in aluminium frame that slides in aluminium channel, they had maintainence problems. The Marcopolo, ACGL and Janbus of the other public sector entities have no such problems.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by AkMar

BEST has started getting deliveries of its order of 303 buses from Tata. These are fully built Low floor/Semi low floor buses. The buses appear to have ventilation unit mounted on roof.

No wonder I was confused seeing these buses at a place little ahead of Palaspe Phata (ahead of Panvel) - junction of old Pune and Goa highways from Mumbai.

The appeared to be a bit longer in length than current buses. If they are Auto transmission ones, they will be good for the drivers. Many of them said they prefer auto boxes. No wonder drivers of the NMMT volvos are a happy lot. I regularly interacted with drivers of AC bus from panvel to Dadar.

Best needs to up it's game. They need to restore the lost faith. We used to swear by BEST buses - that was the staple way to travel to Bombay. But alas it's the NMMT Ac buses in peak hours and BEST LTd services in late night these days.

[blackwasp]

Spotted atleast 15 of the new buses at The Tata dealership at Palaspe Phata. Looks like they were being transported to Mumbai.

[Abudhabicars]

BEST to Scrap all AC Bus Routes from Monday

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/58174476.cms

Interesting move to finally get rid of the Ceritas. I really hope they cave in to the Volvo 8400's soon though, NMMT and MBMT have really proved their effectiveness so BEST doesn't even need to do any research on this one.

If I am not wrong, BEST does have a couple of Old-Gen Volvo 8400's. It is a terrible waste of resources if those are kept idle though, all because of the Ceritas.

[djpeesh]

Originally Posted by Abudhabicars

BEST to Scrap all AC Bus Routes from Monday

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/58174476.cms

Interesting move to finally get rid of the Ceritas. I really hope they cave in to the Volvo 8400's soon though, NMMT and MBMT have really proved their effectiveness so BEST doesn't even need to do any research on this one.

If I am not wrong, BEST does have a couple of Old-Gen Volvo 8400's. It is a terrible waste of resources if those are kept idle though, all because of the Ceritas.

You gotta love the blatant corruption that's dominating the BEST. These buses were a mess from the get go. It doesn't get better than this: a fake Chinese bus bought at an inflated rate.

No one really cares and one of the biggest cities on Earth is content with abysmal public transport. Speaks volumes about the absolute apathy that all of us have.

[TaurusAl]

BEST may procure 50 new ‘mini’ AC buses

Despite undergoing some serious cash crunch, the BEST has proposed the procurement of 50 mini-AC buses following the scrapping of 262 AC buses’ services on Sunday that has caused a public outcry.

BEST general manager, Jagdish Patil revealed that the proposal of these buses will be presented to the committee in the coming week. He said, “Once presented in the committee, it will take about four to five months for the buses to be procured and will be sent to us in phases.” He further added, “These buses are likely to increase punctuality given their sizes.” The buses are six to six-and-a-half metres long, which will help in reducing the turnaround time required from the first bus stop to the last. The old air-conditioned buses were 12 metres long.

Full Report -

http://www.asianage.com/metros/mumba...-ac-buses.html

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by djpeesh

No one really cares and one of the biggest cities on Earth is content with abysmal public transport. Speaks volumes about the absolute apathy that all of us have.

While I agree to the corruption part, I wouldn't agree to "abysmal" public transportation part. If not the best, Mumbai certainly has a very very decent public transportation system. May be its "insufficient" for the crowd, but "abysmal" is the wrong word to use.

Originally Posted by TaurusAl

“These buses are likely to increase punctuality given their sizes.” The buses are six to six-and-a-half metres long, which will help in reducing the turnaround time required from the first bus stop to the last. The old air-conditioned buses were 12 metres long.

Wow! Thats a new definition to "turnaround time" - did he just say that turnaround time is the time taken to take a "U" turn at the destination? How on earth does the length of the bus determine the turnaround time? You have airlines like IndiGo and AirAsia turning around their 180 seater aircrafts in 25 minutes! (Sorry, but that certainly was a terrible comparison).

Back in Bengaluru, we've got a little over 700 Volvo buses doing the job in the city, and the roads are much more congested and crowded here - the length don't seem to seem to affect BMTC a lot

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by binaiks

While I agree to the corruption part, I wouldn't agree to "abysmal" public transportation part. If not the best, Mumbai certainly has a very very decent public transportation system. May be its "insufficient" for the crowd, but "abysmal" is the wrong word to use.



Wow! Thats a new definition to "turnaround time" - did he just say that turnaround time is the time taken to take a "U" turn at the destination? How on earth does the length of the bus determine the turnaround time? You have airlines like IndiGo and AirAsia turning around their 180 seater aircrafts in 25 minutes! (Sorry, but that certainly was a terrible comparison).

Back in Bengaluru, we've got a little over 700 Volvo buses doing the job in the city, and the roads are much more congested and crowded here - the length don't seem to seem to affect BMTC a lot

I agree with Binaiks, the transportation in Mumbai is heavily loaded and under tremendous pressure, but certainly wins hands down compared to other Indian cities. The number of travel options available and the government showing very keen interest in developing the Metro network, the transport scenario in Mumbai will be very different 5 years down the line then what it is now.

Also, the'turnaround time' as per my opinion relates to the travel time to make a 'to' and 'fro' trip from point A to B and back to A.

For E.G :: The routing of BEST buses is such that they leave from Point A as Bus no. abc and reach point B. From Point B the same bus can be routed to another
point C as route number xyz. From Point C it comes back as route no. nnn back to Point A.

The current lot of AC buses which BEST has rightly discarded were so bad that a bicycle champion would win hands down in a race between the two of them. Now imagine navigating these slow joes in heavy rush hour traffic.

So yes if the new buses are well built and from supplied from a reputed manufacturer then they can surely complete their trips faster and use the extra time to ply more routes.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Also, the'turnaround time' as per my opinion relates to the travel time to make a 'to' and 'fro' trip from point A to B and back to A.

For E.G :: The routing of BEST buses is such that they leave from Point A as Bus no. abc and reach point B. From Point B the same bus can be routed to another
point C as route number xyz. From Point C it comes back as route no. nnn back to Point A.

In logistics, Turnaround time generally isn't the end-to-end travel time. Even if its the way you've put it, how does the length of the bus determine the "turnaround time". I do agree that shorter vehicles means quicker traffic clearance, but I really don't see how it makes a great difference for public transport. A shorter vehicle means lesser passengers, so more vehicles on road.

The stupidy that BEST has been doing only underlines the levels of corruption in a body, what was once the best city transport in the country.

[TaurusAl]

We are decoding what's written in the news paper. Be aware, what the GM of BEST said in the press conference and what the reporter of the newspaper has written can be completely 2 different things.

What he probably meant is, since the buses are shorter in length, they are easy to manoeuvre in traffic and will reach the destinations quicker thus allowing more trips per day.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by TaurusAl

What he probably meant is, since the buses are shorter in length, they are easy to manoeuvre in traffic and will reach the destinations quicker thus allowing more trips per day.

This is exactly what i was saying.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by binaiks

The stupidy that BEST has been doing only underlines the levels of corruption in a body, what was once the best city transport in the country.

Couldn't agree more with this. BEST management really needs a wake up call from someone in the government. They should be given an ultimatum to perform. Otherwise we will continue to see such foolish decisions and deteriorating services for ever.

Originally Posted by TaurusAl

What he probably meant is, since the buses are shorter in length, they are easy to manoeuvre in traffic and will reach the destinations quicker thus allowing more trips per day.

Yes, that is why Volvos which have same length as Ceritas reach destination quicker

50 MIDI AC buses is going to be woefully inadequate replacement of Ceritas. They would be able to run hardly 4 routes with them. And lets not talk about capacity of those buses. There were many routes which were getting patronage enough to fill more than 50% of seats in Cerita buses. Some routes used to get standees as well. Replacing Ceritas with smaller buses will further reduce carrying capacity. In particular, Cerita buses from Andheri to SEEPZ and Bandra to BKC used to go full (with 15-20 standees) even with buses at 5-7 minute frequency. How are they expecting to cater to such kind of demand with 50 MIDI AC buses?

[vivek95]

Here's a good article concerning the recent turmoil of BEST AC buses -

BEST has only the following options in front of it now if it wants to get back into the game:

One, wallow up in losses, let NMMT and TMT take over the A/C routes.

Two, get back in the game, go after Asian Concierge and get those remaining 46 Volvo buses.

Three, partner up with private aggregators such as ZipGo or CityFlo to allow users to book seats using the apps.

Read more here - https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructu...t-run-ac-buses