On the eve of 71 years of the Brihanamumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking on Tuesday, a group of academics, transport experts, citizen activists and union leaders gathered at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai on Monday, to discuss its problems and how it could regain its position as an urban, affordable, sustainable, and accessible mode of public transport.
The panel was brought together by the Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST campaign (AMAB), a 10-month-old citizens campaign committed to public transport. They put forward three demands — subsidising BEST as a part of the BMC budget, encouraging public over private transport, and to make BEST affordable and accessible.
According to lawyer-activist Sandhya Gokhale, ridership of BEST is falling because people cannot afford the bus fares due to the constant fee hikes. Gender is another huge factor when it comes to travelling, she said. According to statistics, women make more trips using public transport than men, but most of them cannot afford to use public transport on a daily basis.
Ms. Gokhale then explained what qualities public transport should have. “Basically, factors like cost, time, reliability, service frequency, physical comfort, security, etc. should be provided by every public transport. The most important of them all is safety, especially for women,” she said.
Union leader Jagnarayan M. Gupta said that in recent years, buses have been detained due to lack of staff and fee hikes have been driving away customers. They have also reduced buses on routes which were deemed ‘non profitable’. “A sudden decision was taken that a few AC buses had low cost recovery index, so they were parked at the bus depots and haven’t moved since and were now scrap,” he said.
Transport analyst Ashok Datar explained that scarcity of space and an increase in the use of private cars, has resulted in a decline in the number of BEST commuters. “Potholes are also a huge problem in the city, making it difficult for the buses to run. If this continues, Mumbai will become an unpopular destination. Car owners prefer to use cab services like Ola and Uber to avoid the hassle of trying to find spaces to park,” he said while suggesting that vehicle owners be charged for privatisation of public spaces as a way to help BEST curb its losses.
Dean of TISS, Amita Bhide emphasised on reliability and warned that the public should not be taken for granted. “Instead of viewing them as customers and alienating them from the process, forge a partnership, involve them and make public transport a public decision making process because in the end, this is for public interest,” she said.
As a whole, the panel agreed that the BMC and the government should provide full support to BEST to help it get back on its feet and become more affordable for the general public so that they voluntarily use more of public transport.