The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has announced the implementation of the reduced fares for its buses from Tuesday. Late on Monday evening, the state issued the necessary government resolution (GR) to lower the fares for different distance slabs.

Commuters will now have to pay a minimum fare of Rs 5, instead of Rs 8 for a 5-km-long journey. After the fare revision, commuters will be charged Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 15 and Rs 20 for 5km, 10km, 15km and 20km distance respectively on BEST buses.

“BEST’s fare restructuring has received the approval from the regional transport authority (RTA) and the revised fares will be implemented from July 9,” Hanumant Gophane, BEST’s public relations officer said.

For travel on air-conditioned (AC) buses, commuters will have to pay a minimum fare of Rs 6 instead of the previous Rs 20. For a 20-km-long journey, the fare on the AC buses would be Rs 25.

“The state has issued the GR. So the BEST administration is now free to implement the fare cut,” said state transport minister Diwakar Raote.

BEST will now become one of the cheapest modes of transport in the country for long-distance journeys. With the fare revision, the loss-making body is aiming to increase its daily ridership to 50 lakh from the present 22 lakh .

First Published: Jul 09, 2019 10:16 IST