An official announced on Friday that the fleet of the civic-run transporter’s double-decker electric buses now has 24 vehicles after the addition of 10 new vehicles.

After a two-month absence, these ten buses have finally arrived at the undertaking’s Colaba depot. He said they will be put into service after completing RTO registration and other requirements, possibly by the end of the week.
Due to the scrapping of older vehicles, BEST now has more double decker electric buses than traditional double decker ones, whose number has dropped below 20.

BEST currently has 3,100 vehicles in its fleet, many of which have been acquired through a practise known as “wet leasing,” in which private companies pay for the drivers’ wages, maintenance, and fuel.

200 double-decker electric buses were to be provided by Switch Mobility, an Ashok Layland subsidiary, under a contract BEST had awarded to it.

In addition, the then BEST general manager had stated the fleet would have 20 such vehicles by March at the time of the deployment of the first double decker electric bus in February of this year.

However, BEST had only received two double-decker electric buses by the end of March. By May, BEST had received 12 additional buses, 10 of which had been put into passenger service by June.

“The final two of these twelve buses were registered with Tardeo RTO earlier this week after spending nearly two months parked at Colaba depot. The best time to have introduced them would have been in the summer, when traveller demand for air conditioning is at its highest, a BEST official said.

BEST transports about 30 lakh people daily between Mumbai and its surrounding areas, including Thane, Mira-Bhayander, and Navi Mumbai.
Source- The print
Link- https://theprint.in/india/mumbai-best-gets-10-double-decker-electric-buses-takes-their-number-in-fleet-to-24/1691086/