ITDP brings you news about public transport from around the world in this new series PT InFocus. From BEST’s new public transit route to London’s night buses,  this fortnight’s InFocus looks at the different attempts by cities around the world to increase its public transport mode share.

“The idea is to change the mindset of commuters and encourage him or her to travel by public transport buses.”
– BEST general manager Surendrakumar Bagde

 

BEST’s South Bombay ring route a hit, eats into share taxi business

BEST’s recent experiment to run buses along the busy Crawford Market-CST- Churchgate route on which share kaali-peeli taxis ply seems to have come out with flying colours. Two weeks after BEST introduced ring route number 113, it has found more than 2,000 takers and this, in turn, has led to 500 less taxi trips on south Mumbai roads. Bagde further stated that the Crawford Market-Churchgate-CST ring route will be taken as an ‘ideal route’ and replicated elsewhere.
Published on July 07 in TOI
 

Coming soon to India: Electric buses that can swap batteries at petrol pump-like facilities

The primary roadblock was the high cost of batteries for EVs, which could not be offset without subsidies, he explained. But interacting with the automotive and EV industry, Jhunjhunwala realised that there was an opportunity to build volumes if EVs could be separated from the single most expensive component: batteries. “We said we’ll start buying vehicles without battery,” he said. “For example, if I want to buy a bus or a three-wheeler, I’ll buy it without (the) battery but with enhanced (vehicle) efficiency.”
Published on July 19 in Quartz
 

Citymapper announces first licensed bus service for London

Licensed by Transport for London (TfL), the ‘CM2 – Night Rider’ route will operate night buses between Aldgate East and Highbury and Islington, passing through the popular East London nightlife haunts of Shoreditch and Dalston. The service will launch in late August or early September, between 9pm and 5am on Fridays and Saturdays. Citymapper chose the route based on experiments using their “SimCity” simulation software, which models transport networks in cities and is informed by data collected by the Citymapper app.
Published on July 20 in Wired

 

*Cover image from Wikemedia Creative Commons