00:00 In the year 1874, the trams that used to run on horses were running in this city.
00:05 A visa was needed.
00:07 This visa was going to be used for the tram.
00:09 Bombay Tramways Company was established.
00:11 Bombay Electric Supply and Transportation, BEST was the name of the new company.
00:18 But during the return journey, this tram was going to come this way.
00:23 At that time, this seat, which we call the floating backrest,
00:27 the part to throw the backrest, this part moves.
00:30 This was done in this way.
00:31 This work was done by the conductor at that time.
00:33 There is a rockel lamp.
00:35 Inside, there are red and green glass.
00:38 And there is a slider.
00:39 According to that, the signal was changed by this lever.
00:42 And the tram traffic was controlled by hand.
00:45 On 31st March 1964, this last tram left for the journey.
00:50 A transport of Jeevalya was lost by the Mumbai train.
00:54 [Music]
01:08 Hello, I am Vinayak Parabdhu.
01:10 This is the second episode of Lok Sabha Ghost Mumbai.
01:12 In the last few episodes, we understood the different histories of the rivers in Mumbai.
01:19 Not only the history, but we also understood the current state of the rivers.
01:25 And we also understood the future direction of the rivers.
01:34 We are stopping here for a while.
01:36 And now we are moving towards a new thing.
01:39 We can see a big map of Mumbai on my back.
01:44 And BEST is written on it.
01:47 What does BEST mean? We are talking about BEST programs.
01:51 Two of the most important programs in Mumbai.
01:54 The most important one is the Mumbai local train.
01:56 And the other one is more important than the others.
02:00 That is the Mumbai BEST bus.
02:02 Which means BEST program.
02:04 Because the service of BEST bus reaches up to 6 Kanakoprya in Mumbai.
02:10 In fact, BEST bus is a daily bus for us.
02:12 But how many of us know the history of BEST bus?
02:16 The history of more than 150 years is in this BEST bus.
02:20 But we never pay much attention to it.
02:23 So, in today's episode of Ghost of Mumbai,
02:26 and in the next few episodes,
02:28 we will understand some interesting facts about BEST program.
02:33 And we will also understand the history of BEST, which is connected to us as a Mumbaiker.
02:38 [Music]
02:40 [Music]
03:09 We are now in the BEST organization, which is the most important organization of BEST.
03:16 And we have with us, to give us information,
03:19 the co-director of this organization, Yatin Pimple.
03:23 Pimple ji, welcome to Ghost of Mumbai by LokSatta.com.
03:27 Whenever we talk about Mumbai, BEST,
03:31 the old-time people always remember that they are from Tram.
03:36 So, the tram started this movement.
03:38 So, when did it start? How did it start?
03:41 Tell us about this.
03:43 As you know, Mumbai is known as a city of business.
03:49 At that time, the cloth industry had started in a large proportion.
03:55 And the need for the construction of the tram was being discussed.
04:00 And the British administration at that time,
04:05 took a decision and the transportation system,
04:10 the public transportation system,
04:13 the means of transport at that time,
04:16 in the olden days, there were palanquins, mules, or Victoria,
04:20 bullock carts, horse carts, etc.
04:23 So, there was no technology like today.
04:26 So, at that time, the decision taken by the administration,
04:30 and the start of the horse-drawn tram service was decided.
04:37 And this decision was made exactly 150 years ago.
04:41 On 12th March 1873, the Bombay Tramways Company was established in Mumbai.
04:49 And on 9th May 1874, the horse-drawn tram started running in this city.
04:55 So, we are already moving towards 150 years.
05:03 Because it's May now.
05:05 So, we are in the 150th year.
05:08 It's very important for the people of Mumbai,
05:10 that we are celebrating the 150th year of the public transportation service in Mumbai.
05:17 But, it is said that in the beginning,
05:19 the tram service was seen as a lot of opposition.
05:22 We find such allegations that it was opposed a lot.
05:25 So, why was this opposition?
05:27 As you might have seen, the opposition was always there.
05:32 Wherever there were horses coming from their business,
05:36 the revenue of the Sarvajanik Vatuk business,
05:40 which was a little less than the rest,
05:44 was going to affect their livelihood and business.
05:49 So, they started doing some activities on the Sarvajanik Vatuk business.
05:56 For example, they used to fill the stools in the trams,
05:59 or they used to make stones.
06:01 They did such things to stop the service and to do their business.
06:06 So, the business of the rickshaw, the cart, the cart-drawn trams,
06:11 was going to affect their livelihood.
06:14 So, such people did this business.
06:17 Friends, you might have noticed that the nature of humans was the same at that time,
06:21 and it is the same now.
06:23 The beginning of the tram service was of horses.
06:27 Were there any different types of services?
06:29 And, from where did this service start?
06:32 The first service that started was Grand Building Pulaba.
06:35 It was an important route.
06:38 One route was the profit market route.
06:42 The second route was the footpath route from Kalbadevi.
06:46 And, there were two main types of trams.
06:49 One was a horse-drawn tram, and the other was a two-horse-drawn tram.
06:53 The two-horse-drawn tram had 40 journeys,
06:56 while the one-horse-drawn tram had 25 journeys.
07:00 It was also possible to travel on foot,
07:04 so, it was better to travel on foot for more than half the distance.
07:07 The horse-drawn tram in Mumbai was stopped.
07:11 But, while it was being stopped, a new thing happened.
07:15 It was an electric tram.
07:19 Friends, we can see the electric tram model here.
07:25 Sir, tell us when did this electric tram start?
07:29 And, what was the beginning of it?
07:33 The horse-drawn tram was not stopped.
07:36 There was a need for a visa to be issued.
07:40 And, this visa was to be used for the tram.
07:44 So, the tram was to be used for the tram.
07:47 So, the Bombay Tram Base Company was established.
07:50 Bombay Electric Supply and Transportation,
07:53 BEST was the name of the new company.
07:57 Because, electricity was required to run the tram.
08:00 And, when this electric tram started, it had a huge impact.
08:04 Because, the horse-drawn tram had a limited number of journeys.
08:09 And, its speed was also very low.
08:13 But, the speed of the tram increased because of the electric tram.
08:16 And, the capacity to take journeys also increased.
08:19 The company was established in 1905.
08:22 And, the year 1907 was the year when the single-decker electric tram started.
08:29 The first electric tram was run by the Chief of Mumbai Municipality, Crawford Market.
08:35 And, the first tram, Tram 7, won the hearts of the people of Mumbai.
08:39 Because, it was eco-friendly.
08:43 It did not have any pollution.
08:45 It was very fast.
08:47 And, it was the healthiest vehicle of that time.
08:51 And, now we are talking about eco-friendly things.
08:53 We are talking about things without environment.
08:55 So, I feel that this electric tram was the best tram without environment.
09:02 You said that it was a single-decker tram in the beginning.
09:04 And, later it became a double-decker tram.
09:06 It became a double-decker tram in 1920.
09:08 But, if it was such a good service without environment, why did it stop?
09:14 The truth is that the system keeps changing.
09:19 The traffic on the roads started increasing.
09:22 And, after the road traffic increased, the tram, which was supposed to be the most popular,
09:27 started being a hindrance.
09:29 And, one day, it started raining and the tram was stopped.
09:34 But, the tram was the healthiest and the best vehicle of the poor.
09:38 On 31st March 1964, when the last tram was going to travel,
09:44 a vehicle of Jeevalya, a Mumbai car, got damaged.
09:50 Even today, there are some Mumbai cars who have travelled on this tram.
09:54 They talk a lot about this tram and remember it.
09:58 Friends, this tram is still kept in Calcutta.
10:03 It is still kept in good condition.
10:05 When the Mumbai cars, the Alikad generation, got to know about this,
10:09 it was 7-8 years ago when the work started on the roads.
10:13 At that time, the tram rules were found.
10:17 And, suddenly, the Mumbai cars got to know about it.
10:20 Some felt that the rules were for the railway.
10:23 But, later, different regulations were made.
10:26 And, they realised that these were the tram rules.
10:30 Friends, when we discuss about this, we use different words.
10:36 We say that we have travelled on Dadar TT.
10:38 We tell someone to stand on the parallel TT.
10:41 But, we don't know what a TT is.
10:43 We should remember that the TT is a tram terminus.
10:48 The Mumbai cars should remember this.
10:51 If we want to experience the tram of those days,
10:54 there are two things that we can do now.
10:58 One is, we are showing you the model of the electric tram.
11:03 And, we are watching it.
11:05 And, suppose you want to sit in the tram.
11:07 It is impossible to travel, but you want to sit.
11:10 Then, we have the CSMT railway station.
11:13 Outside that, there is Bhatia Bagh.
11:15 And, in this Bhatia Bagh, there is a tram box.
11:18 It is kept there.
11:19 We will go there and enjoy it.
11:22 While travelling in Sangraha, you may come near these trees.
11:27 You may feel that we are a bit tired.
11:29 And, that is why we have kept a box here.
11:32 But, it is not like that.
11:34 In this context, there is an interesting thing.
11:36 And, we will understand it in detail.
11:39 Definitely.
11:41 The tram was given a U-turn like a bus.
11:44 After the tram reached the terminal,
11:47 there was a track in between.
11:50 And, just like there are up and down lines in a railway,
11:53 there are up and down lines in a tram.
11:55 The tram was going to come from the down line to the up line.
11:58 The track was going to change and come to the up line.
12:01 If we were going in this direction,
12:03 the position of the seat would be like this.
12:06 But, while returning, the tram would come in this direction.
12:11 At that time, the seat is called a floating backrest.
12:15 The part to support the backrest moves.
12:17 It is done in this way.
12:19 And, this work was done by the conductor at that time.
12:22 The backrest of the tram, the seat,
12:25 was operated by the conductor at that time.
12:28 And, in the return journey,
12:30 the position of the backrest was maintained in this way.
12:34 There is another interesting thing.
12:37 If you have gone in a group,
12:40 there are 6-7 groups.
12:43 Then, you can sit in the same way and enjoy the journey.
12:49 And, this was an interesting part of the tram.
12:53 The wooden seat I sat on earlier was a general class seat.
12:57 And, now you can see that the seats I am sitting on are first class seats.
13:01 We had a luxury class tram.
13:04 Sir, tell me what is this?
13:07 You are sitting with this lamp in front of you.
13:10 What is this?
13:11 This is a signal of a tram.
13:13 And, this is a signal in the hand.
13:15 The signal of the tram was not as good as that of the railway.
13:21 As I mentioned earlier,
13:23 the tram had up and down tracks.
13:26 But, in Mumbai, there were narrow lanes.
13:29 It was not possible to arrange a double track.
13:32 There had to be only one track.
13:34 After one track,
13:36 a signal was to be placed to guide the tram in front.
13:39 A tram was coming from the front and another from the back.
13:42 The first tram to be passed had to be guided by a person
13:46 who was giving the signal.
13:48 He had a signal in his hand.
13:50 He had a rock wall in his hand.
13:52 Inside, there were red and green glass.
13:55 And, there was a slider.
13:57 He had to look at the number of the tram.
14:00 He had to tell the direction of the tram.
14:02 He had to tell the direction of the tram.
14:05 He had to change the signal with the lever.
14:08 He had to show the signal with his hand
14:11 and control the traffic of the tram.
14:13 This is the unique signal of the tram.
14:16 So, the signal control of the tram is more special
14:19 than that of the railway.
14:21 You just said that the lever was to be placed in front and back.
14:25 Do the colours change in this?
14:27 Yes, definitely.
14:28 There are two glass pieces inside.
14:30 The colour of the lever changes when it is moved.
14:34 So, friends, we saw that the Base Organization
14:39 has made us aware that this service
14:42 is now completing 150 years.
14:45 We have entered the 150th year
14:48 and it will end around the next month.
14:52 This is a very important thing for us.
14:54 The history of the Base will make us aware of it.
14:59 But, this is not all.
15:01 We have just learned about the tram today.
15:03 There are many more things to learn.
15:05 But, we will have to wait for the next part.
15:09 Till then, don't forget to subscribe to Lok Sabha Live YouTube channel.
15:13 Like and share with your friends.
15:16 Thank you.
15:17 [Music]
15:23 (upbeat music)
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