Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) management has rejected the proposal made by the committee members for an additional 30 new low-floor buses for disabled passengers, saying that they are not financially feasible.

Committee member Ravi Raja proposed that the committee bring in an extra 30 low-floor buses on the roads for disabled passengers since they find it difficult to get into normal buses. “The buses are too high even for an able person, so those who have a disability that still allows them to enter a bus find it difficult. People on wheelchairs cannot enter our buses at all,” he said.

The BEST already has 30 low-floor buses, but have had a number of breakdowns, said other officials.

Other committee members like Kedar Hombalkar said that the BEST should consider bringing in disabled-friendly buses this year. “I think out of 100 at least 30 buses should be low-floor ones. All over the world commute is being made disabled-friendly,” he added. The HC has also made the observation that the railways need to make the platforms disabled-friendly too.

BEST general manager Jagdish Patil said, “We are scrapping these buses because they are heavy fuel burners and also the maintenance costs of these are high,” he said.