Bus stops in the city to soon ready to get next level upgrade with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) to offer free Wi-Fi and mobile charging facilities, digital indicators, and a public address system.
It announced that a comprehensive time bound plan with 100 day and 300 day target to refurbish and upgrade bus stops in the city.
“A bus queue shelter refurbishment and enhanced commuter experience plan has been drawn up and will be executed in 100 days. It includes the re-construction of experiential bus queue shelters at ten initial locations, the refurbishment of 200 shelters and the refurbishment/construction of 50 digital bus queue shelters,” BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra. "There will also be a refurbishment and enhanced commuter experience plan, which will be executed 300 days after the initial phase is implemented,” he added.
“Under the 100-day plan, 200 bus queue shelters will get a new design with better aesthetics. And the 50 digital bus queue shelters will have digital panels in line with the Digital India concept and pole-mounted unique signage, which shall provide a homogenous look and feel while at the same time providing information to citizens. Fifty of 200 refurbished shelters will be offered for adoption to corporations as per their CSR policy,” he added further.
According to the mid-day report, the digital bus stops, which will be built in 100 days, will have 16 key features, including CCTV cameras, Braille signage and panels for easy navigation by differently-abled citizens, a new-age structural design with tilted seating toward traffic, skid-free and tactile-tile flooring, public bicycle sharing, smart device charging points, WiFi, roof indicators for bus arrival, a mist cooling system, an SOS button, a centrally controlled public address system, podcast and thematic music facility, an e-library, toughened glass panels for seamless 360-degree visibility and a first aid kit.