MAY 23: Limouzine buses are up for sale. Mukesh Patel of Autoriders group of companies, who introduced the elite transport service two years ago, is on the lookout for a suitable buyer for his fleet of 22 buses.Recently, the owner of the blue luxury coaches had failed to sell the concept to the Brihanmumbai Electric and Suburban Transport (BEST) Undertaking. Speaking to Express Newsline he said the coaches are for sale in `as-is-where-is' condition, adding that the fleet is available in one lot for the buyer. He denied that there are proposals to introduce the services in other cities like Pune, Bangalore and Delhi.The Limouzine coaches catered mainly to the transport needs of office goers from western suburbs to the Central Business District (CBD). After about 16 months of loss-making operation, the Autoriders group offered to ply them for BEST on its stage carriage system. However, due to widespread criticism from the civic and political circles the company was forced to withdraw its proposal. However, support for the proposal came from the well-known transport expert P G Patankar, who is also honorary chairman of Autoriders group. He felt, ``The Limouzines were an excellent solution for the traffic congestion problem. By refusing the proposal to BEST Mumbai has lost a golden opportunity,'' adding, ``if Mumbai does not want these services, we will take them to other cities.''Patankar said the buses could be used not only for city but also inter-city transport services which would benefit more people. He was confident that unlike Mumbai, people in other cities would welcome the service.After the services were closed, the luxury coaches each costing Rs 27 lakh are now run on charter services, informed senior vice-president, Kamal Kapadia, adding the demand has risen since the World Cup series. He said the buses can be chartered at the rate of Rs 9500 for a maximum distance of 250 km. each additional kilometre costing Rs 35 extra.
