Best bus ETA

It always good to see when your city progresses and make things convenient for you. Today, india's best intra-city bus organization made me feel proud. Yes, BEST- Bombay Electric Suburban Transport, the pioneer bus service of India has gone hightech. Right from the smart card service, electronic tickets
to A/C service(although it annoys at times). Like every other day, i was waiting at the mithchowki bus stop to board my bus to office. It started drizzling so i quickly took shelter under the bus stop. To my sight came a one small sticker saying, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). To know the ETA of a bus on this stop send an SMS to 46060 as BEST  BUS_STOP_CODE. BUS_STOP_CODE is a 5 digit code written in red color on the bus stop. Out of curiosity i tried it, was wondering how would it know that which bus i am interested in. To my surprise with in a minute or two i received an sms stating AC707 ETA 10.27. I was moved for a minute by the surprise. Surprise that it works. I believe it currenly provides update for only AC buses. But something is better than nothing. Years back i had written a similar post on my marathi blog about this and how best could use the GPS system to improve their quality and customer wait period. They have achieved it in slightly different way but its really a good news to see this improvement. I don't think many people are aware of this. So sharing this post. Please forward this valuable information to everyone.
Lets make the optimum use of this. For me, i would now check my bus status right when i step out from my home and i believe that would really help and make a difference.
Thanks BEST you are the BEST!

Different ppl, Different thinking: Humanity @ its best!

Since i have started working, travelling wd the mumbai BEST has become a necessity for me. Paps of yestrde who used to hate travelling by bus has left wd no option now. But travelling was always my hobby and the best thing i luv about travelling by public transport system (PTS) is you get to meet new ppl and discover their varied behaviour. One such experience i had on last friday when i was returning from office. It was 11pm i tuk 460 bus from Aarey market stop. At this hour of night, the buses are usually vacant with only handful of passengers and empty roads, as a result the drivers also feel as if they are Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button of F1. Even this bus driver was inspired by Narain Karthikeyan i guess. He was very aggressive. I love to watch BEST drivers driving furiously, so mosta da time i opt the seat very next to the driver (the single seat). The bus had just came outa da Dindoshi depot and the driver who was thinking that he is a pilot few minutes back was now transformed into a villager who is riding a bullock cart, yea the bus speed was cut off short. Reason, there was an insane walking right in front of the bus, the driver honked his typical BEST bus horn(pom pomm!) just couple of times and then kept driving the bus slowly and dint utter a single word. Ppl in the bus used their mumbaiyya slang language to remove their frustration on him. The driver was still quite. Atlast the man turned back and saw that he is walking right in front of the bus and slowly moved aside. He wasnt aware of what the passengers are talking about him. with his head down and an umbrella in his hand kept on walking.. Soon he moved outa the way the bullock cart driver transformed back into Schumacher. I laughed and said the driver, "Kai mansa astat na... Aikaila yet nahi kai tyala?? Tumhala raag yet asel na?? aslya lokancha??" (How foolish that man was! cudnt he hear the horn?? You guys must be getting pissed off coza such ppl ryt??).. Making sure that the speed has settled down to acceptable limit and no one on the road ahead the driver turned to me and replied, "Nahi bala, toh bicchara aaplya tension madhe asawa, Tyacha laksha nasnaar.." (No dear, that guy was tensed so he dint even notice the bus!) I was stunned by that reply, the Vin Diesel of TFTF had turned into a person who had so much understanding about ppl and their mindset!! He was simply gr8! If everyone of us start thinking like the bus driver then wont there be a happy world for us to live ??

Microsoft Live Search

Microsoft Live Search advertisement on a bus stand near Dindoshi bus depot (Mumbai). If you observe properly the flex hoarding is put up in a wrong way. I tell u, these placeholders are charged @ a very high rate on a per day basis. Hope Bill Gates see this. ;)