MUMBAI: Rushing to the second floor of a double decker bus and grabbing a seat in front of the window and enjoying the cool air coming from that window is another pleasure. But, Mumbaikars are going to get to know this happiness now. Because the old double decker buses are going to be expelled from the service of Mumbaikars after this coming September. They will be replaced by new AC double decker buses. Interestingly, the open deck buses that grace South Mumbai are also about to expire. After September, only AC double decker buses will join the passenger service on the roads of Mumbai.
The first transport of BEST started in Mumbai on 15 July 1926. Before that, trams were running in Mumbai. Over time this changed and double decker buses came into service along with single decker buses. BEST’s first double-decker bus was launched on 8 December 1937. This bus was well liked by the passengers. Since the passenger capacity of single-decker buses is low, the BEST initiative emphasized on increasing the number of double-decker buses.
About 15 to 16 years ago BEST had 901 double decker buses. Due to fifteen years life span of buses, technical problems etc. the number of these started decreasing gradually. In December 2019, the fleet of double decker buses reduced to 120. In 2022-23 there were 45 double decker buses. Now the same number is 33, a senior officer informed. It also has three open deck buses for Mumbai sightseeing tours.
The tenure of a bus is fifteen years. It was informed that these buses are expiring and 33 buses will be expiring by September. After that no such bus will be in service of passengers. The official explained that henceforth only AC double decker buses will be operated for passengers.
Presently, the fleet of BEST initiative has 12 AC double decker buses. Four of them are in service of bus passengers. The BEST initiative aims to bring a total of 900 double decker buses to the service of passengers. Out of this, the work of 200 double decker buses was given to a company. However, there is a lot of delay in getting this bus service. In addition, the tender process for 700 double-decker buses and 50 AC double-decker tourist buses has been implemented and is being finalised. So if the non-AC buses are not in service after October, BEST will have no option but to increase the number of AC double-decker buses.