Hindustan Times 05.11.2009
Enjoy a Duck Bus ride in 2010You can enjoy the sights in south Mumbai while travelling in a Duck Bus, an amphibious bus, next year.
“The undertaking has planned to start Duck Bus in a year, with halts at Girgaum, Worli, Mahim and Bandra near the sealink,” said Uttam Khobragade, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking general manager on Wednesday.
He made the announcement while speaking at the BEST budget 2010-11.
In August, the BEST Committee cleared the proposal to start Duck Bus services in the city to promote tourism.
The idea of running the amphibious buses was suggested by Dilip Patel, chairman of the BEST committee, after his visit to Toronto, where they are a tourist attraction.
BEST then tied up with a city-based private firm to introduce the vehicle that can ply both on road and sea.
The undertaking plans to run one bus service on an experimental basis in south Mumbai (for 40 minutes) and cruise from Gateway of India till Colaba (20 minutes) and back at a cost of around Rs 100-Rs 150 per person per trip.
The speed of the bus would be nearly 50 kmph on road and 10 kmph in water.
The private firm will import these buses from the US at an approximate cost of Rs 1 crore — equivalent to cost of two BEST AC buses — and also maintain the vehicles and bear the expenses of building jetties.
Duck Buses are popular tourist attractions in international cities such as Boston, Singapore, New York and London.
