From India's largest newsroom, I'm Arun George and this is the
Times of India podcast. That's a clip from the 1976 hit
Hindi film Chhoti Si Baat directed by Basu Chatterjee.
Now you can't see it here, but if you watch the film which is
available on YouTube and other platforms, the portion you just
heard features a shot in which you can see two versions of the
non air conditioned double Decker buses in Mumbai.
The last of the non air conditioned double Decker buses
ran its last passenger route in the city on Friday the 15th of
September. Since the last double Decker
journey on Friday, social media has been flooded with clips and
pictures from Mumbai of the buses and people's memories of
it. By the time it was announced
that the bus would be phased out, it was already running on
very limited routes. The double Decker bus existed in
other Indian cities as well, but few Indian cities exploited its
image like Mumbai. And like one of our guests on
today's episode explains, there are few things as glorious as
being on the top level of a double Decker bus, and you truly
felt like you'd achieved something if you got the most
hallowed of seats on the bus. The front seat.
It's actually that the front seat on the top, that is
everybody's dream. I mean, you become a child when
you go and sit over there and go to the window, it's like
transports you back to another times.
That is what double Decker is to me.
And every time you see one, especially somewhere in, say,
South Bombay or something, you'll really wish I was there.
I grew up in Bangalore, so my first memories of double deckers
were Bangalore double deckers, which are quite similar to the
ones that were here for me. It's also movies, the Bombay VSD
buses for other cities. It was like, I think the best
one after what was DTC? Because Durvashan used to show
DTC buses. And Hindi movies and even the
movies of the South, like anything that was shot in
Bombay, just establishing shots or romantic shots are always in
a double Decker bus. In the old days, it was always
the couple in the top seat of a double Decker bus.
That's one of the guests on our episode, Gopal.
Ms. Gopal is a chronicle of the constant change in the city of
Mumbai through social media handles Mumbai pause on
Instagram and Twitter. The 2nd guest on our episode is
Vidhya Datdate. A former journalist and the head
of a bus commuter group who explains why the demise of the
double Decker is just the latest sign of the decline of buses in
the city. A bit of history about the
double Decker bus in Mumbai. The first double Decker in the
city was a tram that came to the city that was then called Bombay
in 1920. In 1937, the city had its first
double Decker bus. On the website of the BESD,
which runs the buses in Mumbai, you can find photos of this
double Decker tram and the first version of the rather ungainly
double Decker bus. The first version of the bus
looked a lot like a truck with a high trailer that carried
people. That design was refined decades
later so that the driver's cabin was made part of the bus and you
got the version of the bus that we now know.
The double Decker, while iconic in appearance and experience,
was never very efficient. Had a fuel economy that was
worse than the regular bus, and it doesn't carry too many people
more than a regular one. In the past two decades, the BST
converted many of its double deckers into top open buses for
tourism. You could rent it for events as
groups. And if you were a gangster in a
Hindi film, well, it was a place to party.
The old version of the double Decker will, for now, be
replaced by air conditioned electric double Decker buses.
The Best says it will have 900 of these buses by next year.
Gopal Ms. who you heard earlier, explains why there's been this
collective morning over the end of the double Decker era and
also how to best preserve its legacy.
He also says he really has no problem with the new electric
buses that are being brought in. Why do we hold on to this design
itself? Because we know that it's a
fundamentally. Inefficient design.
We know that its fuel inefficient.
It can go to a lot of parts of the city, especially now that
Metro is being built across it. It has severe limitations as a
public transport device. Then what explains this sort of
hold it has on us because theres nothing obviously likable about
it. Yeah, there is no logic to it
because it's nostalgia. It is that old Bombay.
I mean, you're in Mumbai and you want to hold on to pieces of
Bombay. And I think there is nothing
more to it. In fact, I want the really old
ones to come back, which had that, that truck lighting in the
front where the cry was. Cabin was small.
Those look really cute. They had that charm, like the
Calcutta traps. They really look good.
But the truth is that with all the nostalgia, most of the
people who want to ride those buses don't take buses.
They make a lot of noise. I think that is what brought the
electric buses because the nostalgia is there and even that
kind of London fetish that BST has with that rent buses.
In fact, I think they chose this bus design because it has a
resemblance to the electric buses of double Decker buses of
London. There's also this sort of plan
I've heard of which they want to have these buses standing in
places, the old ones, that is the defunct ones, like there's
one I think in a BKC complex there is one, which is that is
an installation. Is that like something you want
to see, or is the magic loss when it's stationary?
I actually went there when it was inaugurated, but The thing
is, it's inside the gated community where the richest
people in the country who come in BMWs and Audi's visit that
place. But it's a really beautiful
piece of art and I think it was built because of the nostalgia.
I think at that point of time we felt that there will not be any
double deckers in the future. But here we are where we have
nearly 100 double deckers or more probably coming back to the
streets. Bombay is a city.
People are quite vocal. You have commuter organizations.
You have train travelers organizations.
Who actually advocate for public transport because end of the day
the city is about public transport.
It's it's a city that developed along railway tracks.
The people here relative to other cities do love, use, fight
and do all kinds of things about public transport, which I think
in other cities urban planners would be like kind of happy if
they had such a big vocal community.
Not that the planners are listening, but at least.
These public installations and and things about making old
buses part of our life I think would bring at some level this
whole thing about public transport debate into the open
and not just coastal road and all the car related
infrastructure that is being built.
Of course you can't ignore the fact that there is a slow
decline of investment or in BST. I mean, people are looking for
profits where none exists and stuff like that.
So I look at it as a positive development that we are getting
buses. I think the problem is that not
enough people are using it. So then how do you view this
sort of demise of the traditional version of it?
I'm happy with the new electric buses.
I mean I think it we should change with the times.
I think Bombay has this London and we our buildings are like
London. We like to think that our cops
are like the Scotland Yard and we like our buses to be like
London buses. It'll keep changing.
In fact we started with electric trams and then it became diesel.
So we are going back to the original electric in, in some
ways. So I'm quite happy with just the
fact that we have doubled the cars, unlike other cities.
But then the electric one, unlike this one, doesn't have
that key thing, which is the front seat on top, which is open
and is the price seat in the entire bus.
But doesn't that sort of take away elements of the double
Decker itself? Because isn't it about literally
having the wind in your head? Yeah, it was actually the smell
of the city and the breeze and the sea breeze.
In the sense you could smell and you could actually feel the
elements of the city in that front seat.
It was not just about looking out of the window during the
monsoon. It's an entire different
feeling. I think that is going to be
totally lost, that front seat. Luckily the new buses have more
glass on the sides. So the views are there on
there's better views on other sites.
I'm hopeful that they will compensate for this.
And if you look at the BST, like when they introduce those new
electric buses, they started those Mumbai darshan buses,
there's a hit already if you ask me.
The the electric double Decker with people who are coming and
especially the tourists, and I think there will be a whole new
generation developing nostalgia or electric buses and 100 years
from now some they will be complaining about that.
We owe so much of our lives to the BST.
That is like the St. in the rural areas it's St. buses,
state transport buses. So what is the real lifeline?
The. Suburban service is a lifeline,
but bus is actually more important I would say.
Vidhya Dardate is a former journalist with The Times of
India, an author and the head of a commuter group called Amchi
Mumbai Amchi Best, which loosely translates to R Mumbai R Best.
He says he is not opposed to the electric bus as such, but admits
it does take away something from the experience of riding in a
double Decker. It is very anesthetic.
If you see them with very dull dark color, it is very
anesthetic. Secondly, when you are sitting
on the top deck with A/C, I mean all the fun is lost.
That whole breeze you miss, you know that is you are a bit
nature when you are having natural breeze.
That is the beauty when the A/C completely spoils that.
So it is OK in very severe summer.
Vidyadar Datti says over the years they have been campaigning
to keep the city's bus service efficient and commuter friendly.
The death of the double Decker and the morning over it, he
says, shows how attached the city is to its buses.
Everybody has a passion for every kind of bus, but the
double ticker of course is very special.
The amount of nostalgia that I've witnessed in the last few
days testifies and it is such a long history.
We are also attached to the train, suburban train, which is
very good, but the bus, the kind of intimacy it gives you, you
can see the surroundings for great heritage is somehow being
undermined from the highest levels.
Our authorities say we are modeling on London transport,
but they have learned nothing from it.
You see Londons red buses. Theyre very proud of them.
We must be proud of our bus service.
That is not happening. Our authorities have no sense of
pride. And now theyre only going to
dump one bus in the museum in Gulala.
And all these years that time to have more buses.
But now they've just outlived their life.
That's not a good thing at all. The city's bus agency, the BST,
has been struggling for years now.
Earlier this year, the Times of India Summit Sen had reported
how the bus service, which was once in the green financially,
had losses to the tune of 6000 crore rupees.
Even a ₹60,00,00,000 financial assistance package from the city
civic body per month is not proving to be enough.
The bus service is now hoping to raise money through subsidies
and other revenue generating measures.
The health of the BST service presently mirrors the state of
many public bus services across the country.
Vidya Adar Dhati says that a public bus service shouldn't be
looking to make profits. He says the bigger issue is that
the state is unwilling to spend on the public transport service,
while it seems to have adequate funds for other infrastructure
projects that lack the same utility.
It is actually a political thing.
It is not a matter of finance and economics.
So the main issue, as all the experts are pointed out, it is
political. You have the political bill,
then you can do. You see, for the metro, they
have borrowed such almost a lack of crores they are going to
spend and a few thousand crore they cannot spend on a bus
system. Theyre just taking people for a
ride. Theyre not telling the truth.
The bus has a real flexibility, can take you from any point to
any point, whereas the metro can't do that because they have
to keep alive the metro. So they will try to divert
passengers from the bus to the metro, which will be disastrous.
First of all, I mean it is much more costly and you see it is
not at all flexible. Over the past decade, the BESD
has been leasing buses from bus makers and most of its over 3000
bus fleet is leased. This means the buses aren't
owned or maintained by the BESD. The drivers of the buses also
are not employees of the bus service.
In August, a majority of these drivers truck work seeking more
pay and other employee benefits. It brought the city's bus
network to a halt till the state promised to meet their demands.
Vidyadhar date says globally the move has been to make public
transport more affordable and accessible, while India and the
administrators of the BESD seem intent on moving in the opposite
direction. He says the promise of the
contract buses has also proven to be a hollow one so far.
Everywhere, bus travel has to be subsidized, can never make a
profit. I mean, it's so obvious and so
many countries have started. Even free bus service, we are
continuing the model of America of motorization and building
more flyovers and highways and expressways, so they've got
enough money for the postal road and not for the BST.
I think there is no explanation at all.
This contact system is also playing and because it is
imposed from above, they know it is not working well and it has
proved a miserable failure. They said it will get more
efficiency, whereas it has miserably failed.
Vidyadardate says that the phasing out of the double Decker
should put the spotlight on the health of the BST and on
improving it. He hopes that the upcoming metro
network will solve some of the city's problems.
But till then, he fears the average bus commuter in Mumbai
won't be having a very smooth journey.
The. Main feature is now observed
Bible. For common people and because
they are full living is in jeopardy.
I see people standing for long time waiting for work.
That is the real crisis. You see this in Australia.
It is good for us, you know the only experience.
I think that it's a very momentous time phasing out of
the double Decker. The real problem is.
The way they are neglecting the BSD and the people deserve much
more fair treatment. Common people are being treated
with absolute contempt. They are not a ton or sincere
about the bus system. They are favoring the metro.
Maybe after some decades Metro will pick up, but till then we
will be in a crisis. Today's episode was produced by
Jayaraj Singh and Anuja Singh. For a daily spotlight on people,
ideas and stories that matter, subscribe to us.
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