The BEST is facing a new crisis — of not having adequate Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points for its new electric buses, especially the electric AC double deckers which need more charge per trip, a senior official said.
He said that due to shortage of chargers, the BEST has not been able to operate its fleet of double deckers properly. “While 39 buses are registered at RTO, only 20 electric AC double deckers are being operated on CSMT to Nariman Point/ NCPA and Cuffe Parade routes, besides on tourist bus routes from Gateway to Marine Drive,” he informed this newspaper.
With installation of new chargers being expedited at Colaba depot and also few more at Kurla depot, one can expect at least four more buses to operate in SoBo and 15 to be deployed in Santacruz, BKC and Andheri in the suburbs in the near future.
Commuter groups have already written letters to BEST, complaining about delays in introducing the AC double deckers in suburbs as there are long queues at all bus stops earlier served by the old double deckers which have been phased out completely from roads.
A senior BEST official said the undertaking had charging stations at Colaba and Backbay and more chargers were being set up at Colaba depot. “We will eventually have EV charging points at all 27 bus depots as there is a plan to procure a total of 900 electric AC double deckers and 2,350 single decker electric AC buses in the fleet which will need charging round the clock,” he said.
The BEST has completed the bidding for the 250 new single decker electric AC buses and the procurement will be within six months for which infrastructure for charging and parking are being planned, he added.
