Finding the bus on time is a challenge for Mumbaikars. The BEST Undertaking is under fire from public for lack of punctuality of buses and its inability to provide citizens with a means with which they can find their buses to be more predictable. Internally, the BEST is bleeding financially with over Rs 2,500 crore losses. DNA spoke to the Chairman of BEST Committee Ashish Chemburkar --- under whose political leadership, decisions are taken and implemented and asked about the various solutions that have been talked about and where they stand.

1. The BEST has been claiming that passengers can soon see the exact location on their buses on their cell phones. When will it actually see light of the day?

Ans: We are working on the new GPS based system where buses can be monitored by any passenger and check its time of arrival. Its trials are underway at Backbay and Wadala depots. As it is a new system, there are chances that there could be teething trouble for both administration and people using them. But then we are confident of launching it by January. Currently, the buses are stuck in vehicular traffic on road which has become a headache. If the ETA app is available then at least people can plan their journey accordingly.

2. The number of buses on road has fallen drastically over the years. Plus the metro rail work has hampered the bus services. What is the BEST planning to do about this which affects predicting bus's arrival difficult.

Ans: We have proposed getting more buses in the weeks to come. At present we are studying the routes and depending on that we will take a call on where to tun these buses. The administration has also proposed to introduce buses on wet-lease; which again is being looked into. We are also procuring electric buses. These will surely augment the capacity. At present the waiting time for passengers has increased substantially not just because of less buses on road but also due to work on road. We are working towards improving this.

3. What will be the focus of BEST bus service? Will these buses ply long distance or feeder routes? Also what will BEST do once metro rail routes are ready in the years to come?

Ans: We understand that presently the routes of several buses are diverted due to work of metro rail. Our main aim is to improve frequency of bus services on road so that the wait period is less. With metro routes coming up, the administration is planning routes in a way that most people will use our buses. Connecting the metro rail stations with place of residence and commercial offices.

4. And how are going to attract people to take buses? There are other modes of road transport like taxis and autos that are faster?

Ans: We realise this that this is a buzzing city and Mumbaikars do not have time. Few years back, people used to wait for 15-20 minutes for our buses to arrive at the bus stop. Now things have changed. There are mobile app based aggregators and then there are taxis and auto rickshaws that operate on sharing basis outside stations. These are readily available and people prefer taking them. We want the state government to prevent these share taxis and autos or the aggregators from coming too close to bus stations and stops where BEST buses start. They can do their business and wait for people at least 20 meters away from our bus stations and bus stops. Otherwise how will the BEST bus as mode of transport, see a revival?

5. However there are several routes running that is suggested by local Corporators and politicians. The administration themselves feel that some routes caters few?

Ans: The fact remains that over 70 percent of all the routes fall under grade C where we earn only 40 paise behind 100 paise spent. The Nagarsevaks or Corporators are grassroot workers who know details of their area. We run bus routes if there is a genuine demand which is studied by the administration. It is operated on trial basis for few months and if they find that it is not profitable then it is taken out of service. Recently one such route on Sir Pochkanwala Road was removed from the schedule as there were barely 5-6 passengers during off-peak hours.