Mumbai:
You may soon board a roofless BEST bus and enjoy a 7-minute ride on the Bandra-Worli sea link. The BEST plans to approach the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) for a tie-up, so that this new service is started soon.
This idea was placed before the general manager of the BEST, OP Gupta, by committee member Dilip Patel on Thursday after the committee meeting. Patel said that the sea link's enormous tourism potential is yet to be tapped, and plying roofless buses, otherwise leased on contract to filmmakers and corporates, is one way of doing it.
"It has substantial revenue-generating capacity," Patel said. Gupta said the idea was interesting, but since the BEST does not have tourism permits and its core function is public transport for Mumbaikars, it would be appropriate to have a tie-up with MTDC for it.
Meanwhile, a team of top bureaucrats, including BEST general manager Gupta, will visit five foreign cities to study the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) there, which, they believe, will help in its implementation in Mumbai.
Other bureaucrats include municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya, additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta and MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.
This 'capacity building' and 'training program' tour, worth Rs60 lakh, is being entirely funded by the World Bank, and will happen between October 18 and 30.
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