BEST's contract buses a ‘flop', but system a success globally

Time of India

29-06-2025

Mumbai: A comparison of BEST buses with bus systems globally reveals several potential lessons from successful bus operations in other world cities. Activists say that the wet-lease system of hiring buses from contractors is a 'complete failure' in the city.
Globally, however, such systems have seen notable success, leading to increased service efficiency.
London, for instance, introduced the wet-lease model in 1985 to tackle financial challenges in publicly owned entities. This facilitated reliable, high-quality bus services and proved equally effective during London's transition to electric buses.
Also, Mexico City, Santiago, Shenzhen (world's first fully electric bus fleet) and Bogotaadopted the wet-lease model for e-bus operations.
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Rishi Agarwal, director of Mumbai Sustainability Centre, observed that the wet-leasing model's effectiveness abroad—especially in London—relies on well-designed, strictly enforced contracts. "Fares provide almost 60-80% of recovery of costs, there are third party audits to monitor bus quality and operational parameters. If it can be done in London it can be done here. It takes less than a month to design high quality contracts and implement them.
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Why are the decision makers not showing intent is the question to ask."
New York City's bus system has taken several measures, including dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, and bus network redesigns to improve operations and attract ridership, with an aim for a fully zero-emission fleet by 2040. The Select Bus Service (SBS) in New York achieved travel time improvements and increased ridership by prioritising buses through dedicated lanes and signal adjustments, with studies showing 10-20% improvement in journey time.
Transport analyst Ashok Datar from Mumbai Mobility Forum said BEST should emulate the New York model. He said that with a larger fleet, 140 to 150 buses per hour could operate on dedicated bus lanes on busy stretches like Western Express highway, increasing number of buses on that arterial route to nearly three times the current operation and providing bus every five minutes.
London and New York have seen significant traffic and transit improvement after introduction of congestion pricing.
Central Business District Tolling Program (congestion pricing) in New York, implemented from Jan 2025, resulted in almost all Manhattan buses achieving up to a 5% speed increase, especially benefiting express bus riders with time savings up to 10 minutes, say global media reports.
State authorities are also identifying areas in Mumbai, like Bandra-Kurla complex, Nariman Point, Worli and Lower Parel for potential congestion tax implementation, a senior official from the transport commissioner's office told TOI.
"After a regulatory framework is established, the authorities may levy a fee for vehicles to enter these busy hubs during peak hours, similar to congestion pricing in London and New York," the official said, adding that public transport buses would be prioritised for commuters.
Sudhir Badami, author of 'Matter of Equitability — Making commuting in Mumbai enviable', has advocated for premium Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on the scale of Transmilenio in Bogota.
Badami says having BRTS on metro corridors could have displaced 65% of private traffic and delivered buses in central lanes at a frequency as low as every 20 seconds. He said such measures would not only enhance frequency and commuter convenience but also improve safety due to negligible accident risk.
Public policy (transportation) analyst Paresh Rawal said funding public transport with local property taxes is an established practice in many global cities.
Avinash Dubedi, Program Head – Transport, Sustainable Cities, WRI India, said consistent support by BMC/state govt is vital for BEST to bridge the viability gap between operating costs and earnings, focus on enhancing bus accessibility in line with service benchmarks of up to 60 buses per lakh population.