The BEST undertaking will restore 250 of the 400 CNG buses that were removed from the street last week, by March 3. On February 22, the transport authority withdrew Tata Motors' made non-AC fleet after three such buses caught fire in Santacruz, Chakala, and Andheri East.
The BEST undertaking had earlier stated that approximately 400 CNG-powered buses that were taken off the road will be returned to service only after a written assurance of safety is received from the manufacturer, TATA Motors.
After three incidents of BEST buses catching fire were reported, the BEST tweeted, “In view of the recent incidents of fire in TATA CNG buses operated by M/s Mateshwari Urban Transport Ltd, BEST has decided to take all these 400 buses off road till the original manufacturer and operator takes necessary corrective measures to ensure that it will not happen in future."
Majority of the 400 buses operated from Jogeshwari, Santacruz, Pratiksha Nagar and Dharavi bus depots.