The 50 air-conditioned Kinglong buses which were earlier to be scrapped will now go under the hammer because Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) is of the view that this will help them generate some money from these over-hyped and over-expensive buses.
Committee members like Kedar Hombalkar advised the management to hold an auction where the highest bidder would be given the bus. “To ensure that the buses are not sold at throwaway prices, the management needs to decide a certain value at which the buses will be sold and make sure that we get an acceptable price at least since we have not only purchased the buses at very high rates but have been spending nearly Rs 1 to 2 crore on their maintenance,” said Mr Hombalkar.
BEST additional general manager Sanjay Bhagat said, “The proposal will be reworked and an online tender for the same will be floated, and we will make sure that competitive prices are received for the buses.”
The 50 buses have been running for seven years on roads however their bodies have begun to rot, mainly due to Mumbai’s humid climate. Regarding the e-auction, a BEST official on condition of anonymity said, “Since the buses have become so widely unpopular as bad performing buses, we might get a maximum of Rs 6 lakh/bus. If we get something like Rs 12 lakh/bus, that will be a feat in itself!”
