Mumbai: Special Siddhivinayak AC bus a flop?

Bus number A-54 at Dadar. Pic/Ashish Raje

The special AC bus service between Kohinoor parking lot and Siddhivinayak temple, remains a flop even a month after the launch. The devotees still complain about the half-an-hour wait for the bus, and prefer taking risks parking in a no-parking zone every time they go for Bappa's darshan.

mid-day had on October 4, two days post-launch, reported how regular travellers availed the A-54 service as they got an AC ride for just R6, while the Siddhivinayak devotees made no use of the Kohinoor Public Parking Lot or the bus. A month later, nothing has changed; devotees prefer to park near the temple, risking their vehicles being towed by the police.

"There are many shopkeepers who are ready to park your car at 'safe' place if you buy offerings from them. Sometimes, one of us stays in the car while others go for darshan. So we don't go to park our car at Kohinoor lot which is a 1.2-km ride," said Prakash Rane from Navi Mumbai.

Another devotee, Anil Kolekar from Andheri, told mid-day, "There is an issue of parking around Siddhivinayak temple. But we generally park the car three-four lanes away. Sometimes my car got towed by the police also. I will like to park at Kohinoor lot, but who will wait for half an hour for the bus?"

Despite a month of dull response, BEST and BMC are reluctant to give out the number of passengers taking the A-54 bus. They fear the poor numbers might send out the wrong signal.
"The route will take some time to establish. It has started just a month ago. We are waiting for more response," said an officer from BEST.

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of G North ward, who coined the idea of special AC bus service on the route, was not available for comment.

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