Climate and Health
UITP Award Winner

Green Travel Initiatives: Creating sustainable public transportation

BEST

  • Climate and Health
Where
India
when
2021
Elevator pitch
We are Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST). We plan to expand our fleet from 3,600 to 10,000 buses by 2026. As part of our green initiative, we aim to have 50% of our fleet, or 7,000 buses, running on electricity by the end of 2023. Furthermore, we'll introduce e-scooters and premium buses and transition to 100% digital buses. In our efforts to promote integrated mobility, we're also adopting a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) model.
Project description

Objective

Promote more people to use public bus transport.

Challenges

  • Cannot increase fleet to meet travel demand
  • Crumbling infrastructure
  • High operational costs
  • Inadequate/ageing fleet that guzzles fuel
  • Lack of commuter-centric service
  • Lack of funds
  • Low supply
  • Not able to adapt to new technology
  • Passengers shifting to other modes of transport

All of this has a knock-on effect on mobility, pollution, congestion, and fuel consumption. Given this, there’s a need to devise a system to reduce Capex for the procurement of buses, reduce bus operational/maintenance cost, reduce dependency on fossil fuels by adopting improvements made in Green Technology, and also to reduce the bus driver’s stress to improve efficiency.

Innovative features

We are leading a 360 degree approach towards green travel. This means converting diesel/CNG buses to electric buses, deploying buses on GCC, and creating the largest fleet of 410 electric buses in India.

We aim for 50% fleet electrification by December 2023 and 100% by March 2026. At the same time, our fleet will double to 7000 by 2023 and grow to 10,000 by 2026. As well, we are using 700MW of Solar Energy and instituting 330 public electric vehicle charging points. Plus, we are rationalising routes and improving the BEST Chalo App to provide live location of buses/ETA of buses, display bus occupancy and allow for digital ticketing/purchasing of passes.

We have introduced India’s first National Common Mobility Card by any city/state transport operator, including zero emission e-scooters for last mile connectivity. That makes BEST India’s first premium electric bus service, and India’s first and only 100% digital bus fleet. In short, BEST is the first city transport operator in India to implement MaaS.

  • 360 degree approach

    to achieving Green Travel

  • 100% fleet electrification

    by March 2026

  • Launching India's first and only

    fully digital bus fleet

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