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Time of India
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
BEST Earnings Go Up by a Crore Daily; Ridership Drops to 25 Lakh
Mumbai: The BEST announced on Monday that with a hike in BEST bus fares since May 9, the daily ticket earnings rose by a crore rupees—from Rs 2.25 crore to Rs 3.25 crore—but the ridership dropped to 25 lakh. In fact, the ridership fell drastically from 32 lakh prior to the fare hike in May to 25 lakh in August, sources said. Apart from ridership, the fleet of buses also dipped significantly, and this has gone below the pre-Covid level—from 3,500 buses in 2019 to 2,680 buses at present. Volunteers from the citizens' group Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST said that the migration of bus commuters to share autos and share taxis was a primary cause of the drop in ridership over the past three months. The minimum bus fare was hiked from Rs 5 to Rs 10, while the minimum AC fare was increased from Rs 6 to Rs 12 in May. In comparison, the minimum share auto fare is Rs 10. "Several commuters, frustrated after waiting for buses for 40 minutes, do not mind switching to share autos at the same price from the railway station," said an AMAB volunteer. Similarly, the delay in the delivery of new electric AC buses on wet lease led to a drop in fleet size. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Victoria Principal Is Almost 75, See Her Now Reportingly Undo A transport analyst said: "The BEST signed two contracts totalling the procurement of 4,500 e-AC buses from a contractor and 250 from another contractor. Around 700 buses have been delivered, and the remaining are yet to arrive in the fleet. At the same time, it is phasing out old buses owned by the undertaking." The buses are being phased out as they have completed the lifespan of 15 years. This BEST-owned fleet dipped from 3,337 buses in 2019 to 419 at present. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai When contacted, passengers' rights activist Gaurang Vora said: "BEST should seriously increase its fleet strength and reduce fares to some extent to woo more riders, especially from the poor strata of society." Volunteers of AMAB protested outside 22 bus depots on BEST's Foundation Day last week to demand a reduction in bus fares. "The staff, including drivers, should also improve their behaviour. I travel frequently, and I have noticed that the staff is rude. Drivers often brake suddenly, drive rashly, and jump signals. When we speak to them, they are abusive. This was totally unheard of in the past. In the past, they used to fear the public and apologise," Vora said. BEST's present fleet comprises 419 undertaking-owned buses and 2,269 buses on wet lease. The buses cover an average 160 km run per day, with the turnout being 85% to 90%. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Time of India
05-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Citizens' Groups to Protest on BEST Foundation Day in Mumbai
Mumbai: As BEST celebrates its Foundation Day on August 7, citizens' group Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST (AMAB) and 22 other civil society organisations have decided to protest outside 20 BEST depots in Mumbai on BEST Divas. The protest will take place on August 7, from 3 to 5 pm, and they plan to submit demands to the depot managers. Hussain Indorewala from AMAB said that this was part of the ongoing 'Save BEST' campaign. "For many years, BMC and BEST have made announcements of increasing the bus fleet, but the number of buses has come down to 2,594, with only 437 BEST-owned buses. We demand that BEST bus service be restored to a fully public transport system to maintain a fleet of at least 6,250 BEST-owned buses (as per the norm of 1 bus per 2000 population)," Indorewala said. "There are also plans underway to give away BEST lands to builders to generate 'non-fare revenue,' which will make BEST worse off and make it close to impossible for BEST to revert back to a fully public system. Lately, BEST suddenly increased fares in May 2025, which immediately led to a drop in BEST's ridership," he added. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai
Time of India
27-04-2025
- Time of India
BEST to get 1,500 new buses by September
The BEST has announced that it will expedite the pace with which the buses are being inducted in its fleet. With at least 100-200 buses being added every month, the BEST fleet is expected to have a total of 1,500 buses by September or October, a senior official said. The fleet has already hit a low at 2,800 buses, with BEST-owned fleet reducing below 750 buses and this has left commuters fuming as they wait for over 30 minutes at most bus stops across the city. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai Another decision taken by BEST this month is to shorten some of the existing routes. Recently, it split a few routes into two -- a long distance route from Andheri in Mumbai's western suburbs to Vashi in Navi Mumbai. Commuters are not happy with the bus routes being split and eventually some of these routes being stopped, said bus fan and regular traveller Shubham Padave on Friday. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play this game for 1 minute and see why everyone is addicted. Undo "For example, recently route 533L from Andheri to Vashi has been split in two halves. Route A533: APMC Vashi to Ghatkopar and route A433 is now from Ghatkopar to Andheri. Now for Ghatkopar - Andheri section, we already have a well established route A340. and for Ghatkopar - Vashi, we have route A C53 Exp and A 511. There is no need for splitting the long route which was beneficial to many,"he said. A senior official said that BEST will focus on deploying more buses on busy and profit making routes. This is to ensure that the maximum number of people are catered -- some places people are waiting and other places there are no passengers but buses are plying. Wherever there are hardly any passengers, there will be few or no buses. Also, bunching buses -- with 3-4 buses travelling back to back on the same route -- will be stopped immediately, an official added. The BEST also curtailed a route recently, route 502 Limited, from Nerul Sector 46/48 to Tata Power Station, Chembur. It is learnt that this has now been converted to Midi AC bus and curtailed as Nerul Sector 46/48 to Deonar depot bus. Similarly, two routes were suspended lately -- route 720 Limited from Malvani depot to Bhayander station East and route A-290 from Marol Maroshi bus station to Poisar depot. Said Padave: "The route 720 Limited was suspended last year but it resumed operations after a few months, and now it is suspended for a second time. Similarly route 290 was a Limited bus route which was converted to AC route (A-290) and benefitted commuters. But its suspension from service is a loss to many. The curtailment of the route from Navi Mumbai to Mumbai is also disappointing."
