More electric buses in Mumbai, common transport card, Coastal Road project and happy hours for cabbies in 2018
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Happy hours for cabs/autos
Happy Hours for Kaali-Peeli cabs and autos as per recommendations of a state panel may come into force from mid-2018, if the trade union accepts them. The proposal includes introduction of 'happy hours' between 12 pm and 4 pm, during which autos and Kaali peeli cabs can offer rides at discounted rates.
"The proposal is already in place and is being further refined. If all goes well, it should be implemented by mid-2018," a senior transport official said.
By Rajendra B. Aklekar
Work on coastal road to begin by January-end
If everything goes as per plan, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) ambitious Coastal Road project will see work start by January end. The BMC is in the process of scrutinising bids of contractors for the coastal road work. In October, the BMC received about 17 bids and authorities were hopeful of finalising the contractor by December end. Nevertheless, officials are confident of starting work near Priyadarshini Park by the end of January.
The civic body will set up Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) near the park to start the work. According to civic officials, all required clearances are with the BMC and only the agency has to be finalised. The civic body took permissions from 17 departments for the project. As per the plan, the BMC has divided the coastal road project into two parts — Princess Street to Worli-Bandra Sea Link and Bandra to Kandivli. For the 29-km road from Princess Street to Kandivli, the civic body has estimated the cost to be about Rs 15,000 crore. The civic body will start work on the first phase from Princess Street to Worli-Bandra Sea Link. From Princess Street it will go underground. The coastal road is expected to ease traffic on existing routes that face traffic jams during peak hours.
By Laxman Singh
2018 could well see the return of student council elections after 25 long years
The student community is hoping against hope that 2018 sees the start of the open Student Council Elections. Students have been waiting for this for the past two years, ever since the new Maharashtra Universities Act 2016 was formed. Mumbai University, whose lame excuse has been the absence of decision-making bodies, will have no excuse now.
Excitement in the ranks
After the new Maharashtra Universities Act was passed two years ago, there was excitement over the return of student polls, which had been banned in 1992. But, with the delay in implementation of the new act in all state universities, the formation of decision-making bodies such as Senate, Academic and Management Council was inordinately delayed. After working on ad-hoc bodies for two years, Mumbai University has finally begun the process of formation of all such bodies. The election process for university bodies will begin soon and these are expected to be ready by the new academic year. After these are formed, it is expected to be the turn of student elections.
No voice for students
"We have been hearing for a while now that student elections will be making a comeback, but the Maharashtra government only seems to be delaying it. But, once all the varsity bodies are formed, students' unions will demand aggressively that these elections begin. Forget open student elections, in Mumbai University and affiliated colleges, there have been no regular student council elections in the past two years. There is no voice for students' issues. The new year will change all that," said Sainath Durge, core committee member of Yuva Sena.
Not a political stunt
Sachin Pawar, president of Students Law Council, said, "With all the varsity bodies in place, the university will now have no reason to delay student elections. Student unions, too, have strengthened the members' registration process. This can be seen as the beginning of the process as student unions start preparations for elections. It is time that we stopped looking at student elections as political stunts and focussed on students' benefit."
By Pallavi Smart
More electric buses in city
The BEST Undertaking will get a few more electric buses in 2018. The new electric, zero-emission buses were inducted in the BEST's fleet on November 2, 2017. These buses have the unique ability — every time the bus applies brakes, it will generate power that will go back to the power reservoirs of the bus. The buses, after being charged for three to four hours, can run a distance of 250 km to 300 km.
"Six buses will arrive by early 2018. The buses will be based at Backbay depot. The depot has been equipped with charging points and every time the bus comes back to the point, they will be charged," a BEST official said. The gearless, eco-friendly buses, with a capacity of 35 seats and low floors, have been bought at a cost of Rs 10 crore and run on lithium-ion batteries. The bus also has regenerative energy restoration technology using kinetic energy to restore charge to the batteries.
Smart card in the final stages
The state government's transport department and the MMRDA are working on a plan for a common transport ticketing card for the city. The card will integrate all public transport tickets of the BEST, Indian Railways, the Metro lines and the Monorail. The card will also be integrated with the toll booth payment systems and can also be used for cashless shopping. The MMRDA is in the final stages of preparing a bid document.
By Rajendra B. Aklekar
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