BEST procuring 900 Double Decker Electric AC buses

BEST will be paying the operator $0.75 per kilometre to the operator under wet lease, all operations including driver, vehicle and maintenance on the scope of operator.

Mumbai –The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) of Mumbai is procuring 900 AC electric double-decker buses a wet lease basis for 12 years. The project will cost the undertaking over USD 480mn, sources said.

The state government has already sanctioned USD 132.27mn to the BEST under the Maharashtra Clean Air Project for procuring e-buses, and this money will initially be used to procure the double-deckers. While the first lot of 225 double-deckers are expected this year, the next batch of 225 buses will arrive by March 2023 and the remaining 450 by June 2023, said BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra.

            BEST will be paying the operator $0.75 per kilometre to the operator under wet lease, all operations including driver, vehicle and maintenance on the scope of operator.

The bus shall be entirely brand new (the chassis used for fabrication of fully built bus should be new and not manufactured earlier than four months from the date of purchase order of fully built bus) and of the best quality and workmanship and would be procured along with the erection of charging station.

As per the technical specifications, the bus should be able to cover a range of 120km in a single charge. As a pre-condition, keeping in mind the environmental standards, the bus shall be highly energy-efficient (consume less than 1.40 kWh for AC energy per km) and shall not contribute to pollution levels. The bus will have all high end passenger amenities, including all destination LED boards, cameras, public info system and music system, as per the latest under Urban Bus Specifications-2. The amenities in the bus will include the GPS specification that will be integrated with our existing Intelligent Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) system. The charging station construction will include installation of a charger with all related civil and electric work and a cover shed for station and bus. It will have availability of an 11kv power supply line at the depot.