Now, an electric avatar of Mumbai's iconic double-decker buses!

Mumbai's iconic double-decker buses are set for a comeback in an electric avatar with a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking official stating that their numbers will match the highs of the 1990s by next year. The financial capital is the last urban area where these double-deckers are still running, though they were once found in robust numbers in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai, among other cities, officials said. According to officials, BEST had the highest number of double-decker buses in 1990, before the figures started dipping post-1995. By 2006, the city's premier road transport utility had 225 double-deckers as losses began to mount and operating costs went north. There are some 50 left in Mumbai, most of these plying in the southern part of the city and some being used to give heritage tours to tourists. This existing batch was introduced in 2007 and would soon go off the roads at the end of their codal (operational) life, officials added.