BEST driving Mumbaiites away? 25.9 lakh took buses in February

Committee members of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) pointed out that the passengers travelling by BEST buses have dropped to 25.9 lakh in February.

The members alleged that BEST passengers had dropped from 27 lakh in the last six months to 25.9 lakh in February. Stating that commuters do not prefer BEST buses because of lack of proper facilities and information, the committee members took on the management over its functioning.

“There has been a substantial drop in the number of passengers. The number dropped to 25.9 lakh in February; there has been no proper information system for commuters. The ticketless travel might have also increased because of the lack of functional ticketing machines,” said Sunil Ganacharya, BEST committee member from BJP.

However, the BEST management has refuted this decline in the number of commuters. “The passengers of the BEST have not declined and the total figure available with us is between 27 and 28 lakh,” said a BEST official.

However, over the years, the number of BEST commuters has decreased substantially. The number of BEST commuters between 1997 and 1998 was 41 lakh, between 2007 and 2008 was 42 lakh and between 2017 and 2018 was 27 lakh.

Meanwhile, the BEST has decided to provide charging stations for electric vehicles at Backbay and Worli bus depots. The charges for charging the vehicles have not been decided yet. The state government in association with Mahindra Electric had earlier asked the BEST to set up charging stations for electric cars which would be launched by Mahindra Group.