Mumbai to get electronic Victoria carriages with audio tours

In 2016, Mumbai banned horse-driven carriages in light of animal cruelty, and now those Mumbai carriages are looking to make a comeback without the horses. The horse-driven buggies were once very popular among tourists in South Mumbai, but they went off the streets in 2016. Now, electric carriages are going to be introduced on the same routes and licences would be issued to those operators, who had lost their job in 2016.
The electric carriages are going to be operated by Ubo Ridez, and according to reports, the company is going to roll out nearly 40 electronic, battery-driven carriages. The tourist points served would be Colaba, Nariman Point, Marine Drive, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and Girgaum Chowpatty. The carriages went off these routes in 2016 after a PIL was filed by an NGO, on grounds of animal cruelty in June 2015. Then, the Bombay High Court gave orders for the carriages driven by horses to stop services. It noted that the practice violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.


For now, 40 carriages would be allowed to run on the routes. The nod from the transport department had come in May after the company that manufactures e-carriages mooted the proposal.
The new electric carriages are just like the older ones, but only without horses, and they can run at a speed of 20 km per hour. These Victoria carriages run on GPS, and provide audio tours for passengers giving information on the major sights of Mumbai as and when you pass them. The carriages use lithium-ion batteries to function.