The first bus was inaugurated by BEST chairman Arvind Nerkar at a function in the Electric House bus depot. This prototype bus will begin its regular service on Oshiwara bus depot to Backbay depot route from Friday, the undertaking's 51st anniversary. The Sitibus is part of a massive drive by the BEST to enhance passenger comfort by introducing new services like the AC, vestibular and CNG buses. ``The buses we have been providing in the last 50 years have not been ideal,'' admitted BEST General Manager Vinay Mohan Lal. Sitibuses will be inducted in sizeable numbers only after a positive feedback during their trial runs, he added.

Both Nerkar and Lal appealedto Ashok Leyland, to lower costs. At Rs 35 lakh the Sitibus costs twice the single decker. Looking like something driven off the streets of Europe, the Sitibus promises to make travel in the city a comfortable experience. BEST had approached manufacturers with plans to develop a new passenger-friendly bus eight years ago. The new bus was to eliminate the sheer agony of climbing the narrow steps in the older vehicles. The stairs in Sitibus are 780 mm high against the earlier 1000 mm; the doors are wider, 1100 mm as opposed to the older 700 mm.

Wider doors and easy access mean a great time saving. ``If you can enter and exit this bus quickly, we can reduce waiting time at bus stops,'' Lal stated.Besides the heavy-duty airconditioning and plush interiors, the bus is also mounted on air-suspension. The entire bus can be raised and lowered at the touch of a button, and the twin pneumatic doors would also be operated by the driver. However, lowering the floor of the bus is not an easy task. ``It involves changingsuspension, axles and the entire frame,'' Ashok Leyland's Director (vehicle sales) R Devrajan said.

The bus also boasts of enhanced safety features like galvanised steel roof and sides and a rear-mounted engine to reduce noise. Also a recorder stores the driver's responses like gear changing, clutching and de-clutching which could be used to train other drivers. Lal said that Leyland was working on upgrading the double decker buses with features like new generation engines, multi-axles and greater passenger carrying capacity.