BEST to add 40 new electric buses to fleet

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has decided to take 40 air-conditioned, electric buses on wet lease for seven years.

The BEST committee approved the proposal on Tuesday. This will be the second batch of 40 buses that will be procured under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles India Scheme.

The Department of Heavy Industries will extend a subsidy of ₹1 crore for each bus, which will be passed on to the contractor, who will buy and maintain the buses and hire drivers. The BEST will pay ₹28.34/km for each bus for seven years. The buses, which cost ₹1.67 crore each, can travel up to 80 km on a single charge.

However, a few standing committee members expressed their reservations over the proposal. Sunil Ganacharya of the BJP said, “We haven’t got the first batch of AC buses yet. It would have been better if this batch had non-AC buses. We should have tested the AC buses before procuring new ones.”

Other members questioned why new batch had a lower mileage. The buses in the previous batch could travel up to 200 km on a single charge. BEST officials said the new buses would ply during peak hour traffic and the batteries would take just two hours to recharge compared with the three hours taken by the buses in the previous batch.

The BEST committee also approved the procurement of 100 new electronic meters for single phase connections in south Mumbai. The meters, which have been procured at ₹6.7 crore, will replace conventional meters over six months.