With limited buses plying amid the COVID-19 crisis in Mumbai, the city needs more buses to cater to the public transport demand and also ensure tha COVID-19 protocols are followed such as maintain social distancing. While Londoners are experimenting with the idea of inducting their 233 roof-less double-deck tourist buses for regular commuting as COVID-safe mass transit in these difficult times, Mumbai experts rue lack of investment in public bus transport over the years thereby limiting such options to experiment.

"When you have available options, one can experiment. But with limited options, there is really no scope for such luxuries. Mumbai, for example, has just two such open-deck buses that are used for tourism. We are now using almost our entire fleet, but the number of passengers are increasing and with social distancing, we cannot carry the buses beyond a certain capacity. The need for some more sturdy investment in public transport, especially post-pandemic period is being strongly felt now," a retired transport official said.