BEST likely to induct 300 more e-buses

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking is likely to induct 300 additional electrical buses (e-buses) for a period of 10 years at a cost of ₹1,259 crore.

Earlier, BEST had decided to induct a total of 450 e-buses, of which the transport body has already procured 34 e-buses for its fleet.

The undertaking has formulated the proposal and will put it before the BEST committee members during a meeting on Friday.

“To keep the city environmentally-friendly, the undertaking has decided to induct more than 300 electric buses in its fleet. We have finalised our proposal and will put it before the committee members at Friday’s meeting. After the members approve the proposal, we will begin the next procedure,” a BEST official said.

The buses will be wet-leased – while BEST would hire the conductors for the buses, the contractors would provide the drivers and pay for the maintenance of the buses.

The buses will be procured under phase-2 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme.

The 300 buses will include 160 air-conditioned (AC) midi buses and 140 AC single-decker buses. Officials in the transport body said they were keen on hiring midi electric buses because owing to their size, they can move faster on narrow and congested roads, as compared to the regular buses.

According to BEST’S proposal, of the ₹1,259 crore, the Centre has decided to grant ₹45 lakh for the midi buses and ₹55 lakh for the single-decker buses. The proposal stated that the transport body has a guarantee from the bidder that the midi buses would operate around 4,250 kilometers per month, at a cost of ₹74 per kilometre, while the single-decker buses would run for 4,750 kilometres every month, at a cost of ₹83 per kilometre.

Last year in June, BEST had decided to induct 1,250 new buses, including 450 AC and non-ac mini and midi under the wetlease scheme for two years.