[amrutmhatre90]

Originally Posted by vharihar

And what is the benefit?

Foremost benefit is fuel economy, also 80% of the buses are now CNG and very few old or double deck are diesel. With growing norms, the new buses are BSIV compliant.


But downside of the CNG bus is it has very less torque compared to diesel buses.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by amrutmhatre90

Yes, the new Buses are Turbo Charged gone are the days of NA engines.

You sure that's the reason? Many diesel cars are turbocharged too but their sound doesn't degrade so much.

Also, had an occasion to travel by 511 Ltd yesterday from Vikhroli to Mulund.

Again, horrible engine sound!

Also, saw very poor maintenance. The decadence of BEST in full display. Only 2 out of 6 tubelights working! Unheard of! What has BEST come to?

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attac...1&d=1562377102

[AkMar]

BEST has decided to go for Tempo travellers. I am not happy with this decision. They will be a pain for standees, and the aisle is very narrow. walking through the aisle with 1 row of standees will be tough. I pity the conductors of these tempos (can't call them buses). I wish they had gone for proper mini buses.

[neofromcapone]

Originally Posted by AkMar

BEST has decided to go for Tempo travellers. I am not happy with this decision. They will be a pain for standees, and the aisle is very narrow. walking through the aisle with 1 row of standees will be tough. I pity the conductors of these tempos (can't call them buses). I wish they had gone for proper mini buses.

I believe, these buses will be easier for the driver to maneuver in the smaller roads of the city. Not all BEST routes are the big buses and not all of them are full, leave alone the standees.

The city needs these smaller buses, they should replace at-least 10 ricks and be more efficient for the passengers, and they will be parked inside a depot and not on the roadsides.

A stronger public transport is a better option for the traffic in the city

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by AkMar

BEST has decided to go for Tempo travellers. I am not happy with this decision. They will be a pain for standees, and the aisle is very narrow. walking through the aisle with 1 row of standees will be tough. I pity the conductors of these tempos (can't call them buses). I wish they had gone for proper mini buses.

They're not the TTs (as they're fondly called) used for staff and tourist transportation, but wider mini buses called Smart Citibus, that look identical to the former. The width (2.25m) is comparable to that of the Ashok Leyland Lynx (2.5m), which is a proven choice for city services by many corporations such as KDMT, BMTC etc. The gangway width of the Force offering has to be compliant to the AIS-052 norms, so it will not be as congested as inside a regular TT.

Force tried to make them look like the VW Crafter mini bus

[vharihar]

I miss the BEST of yesteryears, prior to Khobragade who caused permanent damage to the operations and culture of the BEST.

Buses are so crappy nowadays. Seats, display boards style and width, engine noise and maintenance, bus body maintenance. Everything is downhill.

[wheelguy]

B.E.S.T electric buses to hit the Mumbai roads from Monday. Also to launch mobile app on the same day.

The buses will operate at the new fare-Rs 6 for a 5-km AC ride and Rs 5 for non-AC buses. The maximum fare for an AC ride will be Rs 25 whereas it will be Rs 20 in a non-AC electric bus.

A senior BEST official announced on Saturday that the stage has been set for the launch of the new electric buses, six of which will be AC and four non-AC. "We have finalised route number 302 as the corridor on which these buses will operate. It will ferry passengers from Sion to Kurla and via the LBS Marg, it will go through Kamani, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, KanjurMarg and Bhandup before terminating at Mulund," he said.

The official added that this was one of the busiest routes in Mumbai, and there was a huge demand for buses. "We plan to deploy the electric buses here, with a charging station at Dharavi depot. A single charge will be sufficient to operate the buses for an entire day," he said. It takes 1-5 hours for charging, depending on whether it is a fast- or a slow-charging method.

The mobile app, which will also be launched on Monday, will help commuters decide how to plan a journey, an official said. "If you are at any location, you can just key in the name of the area. The app will act as a guide and help you locate all bus stops in the vicinity. It will throw up a list of bus routes for your destination and also help you decide which bus to travel by. The most interesting part is that the app will decide which buses will travel faster and reach you quicker to the destination," he said.

And, you will be able to rate a driver and also give rating for quality of vehicle/ride in the bus. A senior official said that though the app will now show the expected time of arrival of a bus through GPS and the information will be accurate, , he added that in future it will be linked to Google Maps to show the congestion on some stretches.

BEST panel members had demanded that this feature be integrated soon into the app. They also want another feature of "e-ticketing data" to be integrated so that one knows, through the app, if a bus is packed or empty.

Source: ET Auto

[RM Motorsports]

BEST has officially inducted a fleet of 10 state of art electric buses that have been procured from Olectra-BYD. Post the deployment of all the 46 eBuses, BEST will transport around 1 million passengers every month in this zero-emission public transport.

The new fleet of low floor buses, can travel up to 200km in a single charge based on traffic conditions. The high-power fast AC charging system enables the battery to get fully charged within 2-3 hours. It has a capacity of 32+1 (driver) seats with an electronically controlled air suspension to ensure a comfortable ride to the passengers.

http://overdrive.in/news-cars-auto/b...ange-of-200km/

[Anwesh]

Let us hope they have retrofitted the traditional bulb horn on these. That is the only horn the rik drivers respect. The need shall be even more on these buses as there is no engine roar.

Regards,

[Anwesh]

Originally Posted by Anwesh

Let us hope they have retrofitted the traditional bulb horn on these. That is the only horn the rik drivers respect. The need shall be even more on these buses as there is no engine roar.

Regards,

Okey. Checked and confirmed that the bulb horn is very much there.
Also, the licence plates are green with yellow alpha numericals.

Regards,

[The_Outsider!]

B.E.S.T electric bus catches fire in Mulund.

An electrical bus coming out of Mulund bus depot caught fire following a short circuit on Monday morning. There were no injuries to anyone. Fire brigade officials said that the fire was controlled within a few minutes as the fire brigade reached the spot. Eyewitnesses said that the incident occurred around 7 am on Devidayal Road when sparks were seen coming out of the bus.

Bus staffers then quickly moved to first to control it and simultaneously alerted the fire brigade. While the fire department confirmed the incident saying it was a minor fire, the BEST is yet to issue a statement in the regard.

Source

[Abudhabicars]

After the induction of the Force traveller buses, BEST seems to have also got their hands on these AC TATA buses as well. Highly probable that these are leased as well.

[vharihar]

Spent a month in Mumbai. Why are the electronic display boards so largely non-functional in BEST? They're non-functional in 80% of the cases. Why is this rocket science to fix?

Whereas they're *omnipresent and functional* in 99% of the cases in Blore BMTC.

Worse, the ad-covered BEST buses look shabby. The BEST brand has taken a beating from its highs of early 90's. I am seeing it going downhill day by day. Even patronization is poor, despite the fare reduction.

[Dieseltuned]

BEST has started introducing the mid sized buses along a lot of routes in city and some suburbs, I hope this brings a respite to the aam junta from the rickshaw mafia

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Spent a month in Mumbai. Why are the electronic display boards so largely non-functional in BEST? They're non-functional in 80% of the cases. Why is this rocket science to fix?

I am sure you are not making the figure up and many buses do have non-functional electronic displays but I'll put non-functional ones to be at 10% or less. My reference is about an hour spent daily waiting for buses. That said, I do agree that there is no reason for these displays to not work.

Originally Posted by vharihar

Worse, the ad-covered BEST buses look shabby. The BEST brand has taken a beating from its highs of early 90's. I am seeing it going downhill day by day.

Agree that the ad-covered buses are not at all pleasing sight. Yet, BEST seems to be on right track with newer buses coming up quick. The Tata ones with automatic transmission are pretty comfortable and fast enough to keep pace with traffic on highway. Also, Olectra electric buses (both ac and non-ac) are absolute delight.

Originally Posted by vharihar

Even patronization is poor, despite the fare reduction.

There has actually been quite an increase in passengers due to fare reduction. Especially for short distances where fare came down from Rs. 8 to 5 which directly competes with share-autos.