On a day full of decisions related to public transport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) on Wednesday announced its first-ever bus route on India`s longest sea link—the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), officially called the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri–Nhava Sheva Atal Setu  starting tomorrow.

Also, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) announced free rides for senior citizens and a 50 per cent discount for women commuters, and the Maharashtra cabinet approved the proposed name change of eight Mumbai suburban stations. The state government on Wednesday also decided to merge public transport bodies in the MMR into a single transport body. The BEST has finalised bus route S-145 in sync with the Chalo app to be the first public transport bus service operating on the Atal Setu. 

BEST on Atal Setu

With this, BEST has spread its reach to the Ulwe node of Navi Mumbai. Apart from this premium service, there are long-term plans to also run ordinary buses on the route. The route S-145 bus will travel between Konkan Bhavan, Belapur to the World Trade Centre via the Atal Setu. It will run via Sai Sangam-Targhar-Ulwe node-Aai Tarumata-Kamdhenu Oaklands-MTHL-Eastern Freeway-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Churchgate station and end at Cuffe Parade. The buses will begin operations on March 14 and operate between Monday to Saturday. The fare of these buses will be between Rs 50 (minimum) to Rs 225 (maximum).

Also Read: Mumbai: North-south connector opened at Kanjurmarg

Concessions on Thane buses

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has announced fare concessions for women and senior citizens who travel in Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) buses. With this initiative, senior citizens above the age of 65 will get free rides in TMT public transport buses and women passengers will get a 50 per cent concession for rides in TMT public transport buses, starting March 13.

The announcement was made through a post on X by the civic body of Thane. “In the budget of Thane Municipal Corporation for the year 2024–25, women will get the benefit of 50 per cent off on the ticket price and senior citizens will get 100 per cent free travel in the buses. This initiative will start from March 13,  2024,” the post read. The decision to provide this concession was taken in the 2024-25 TMC budget.

Name change gets nod

The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved the renaming of Mumbai suburban railway stations as proposed by Mumbai South Central Member of Parliament Rahul Shewale. Currey Road will be renamed as Lalbaug, Sandhurst Road as Dongri, Marine Lines as Mumbadevi, and Charni Road as Girgaon. Cotton Green will be renamed Kalachowki, Dockyard as Mazgaon, and King’s Circle as Tirthankar Parswanath. 

It may also be recalled that in March 2020, the then Maharashtra government (Maha Vikas Aghadi) had approved a proposal to rename Mumbai Central Terminus railway station after the 19th-century philanthropist Jagannath Sunkersett, also called Nana Sunkersett. However, the proposal is still pending with the Union government.

Public transport merged

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to merge public transport bodies in the MMR into a single transport body, thus merging transport services of Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation, Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, Ambarnath Municipal Council and Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Council. The combined transport service will give a viable option to commuters along with railways,” Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.

“Transport services of Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation, Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, Ambarnath Municipal Council and Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Corporation near Mumbai Mahanagar Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation area are not operating at full capacity. Citizens were constantly demanding that bus services should be started in these areas through the single body of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. With a combined transport service area of 225 sq km with a population of 33,43,000 as per the 2011 census, the decision has been taken,” Shinde added.

“As the new EV buses will be included in this transport service, it will be possible to control and reduce the level of air pollution in the city. For this transport service, a transport Bhavan building will be constructed for the administrative office of the integrated transport undertaking at Shahad in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation area. An integrated transport service for such a vast area will help give a big boost to the development of the area,” said Shinde.

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No of stations whose name changes have been approved

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