An official said tenders for the new buses were floated on November 11
With excitement and cheer amid bus fans, transport experts and commuters, the Association of Designers has proposed holding a competition for a unique new double-decker bus for Mumbai. They want it on the lines of a competition announced for double-deckers in 2008, 'New Bus for London Competition,' by Transport for London, and will soon approach the BEST with their idea.
Following several emotional appeals from Mumbaikars and a series of mid-day reports, the BEST Undertaking last week placed work orders by inviting tenders for 100 new double-decker buses maintaining the same Routemaster design, but in an advanced and upgraded avatar.
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Proposing to conduct a design competition for a unique new double-decker bus for Mumbai, architect and industrial designer from Industrial Design Centre (IIT-Bombay), Yogesh Dandekar, said, "Not just Made in India, this bus must be designed in India. People and designers will bring very innovative ideas and the involvement of the design community will ensure that the design is judged and evaluated well."
An excited Nitin Dossa, president of Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI) and Western India Automobile Association said, "Air-bulb (bhopu) horns are needed not the new ones as drivers have a habit of unnecessary honking before the lights turn green at signals.'
An old-timer, professor AN Agrawal said, "I have travelled in double-decker BEST buses, even trailers, for decades. In certain areas in Grant Road, double-deckers with electric pantograph plied in the 60s with a mesh network of overhead cables but were withdrawn soon."
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