Mumbai: BEST’s ticket earnings dip to Rs 20 crore in one month

MUMBAI: The BEST undertaking takes a hit with ticket sale losses of around Rs 20 crore in a month. This is mainly due to the stringent lockdown-like curbs amid the second wave of Covid-19, with no standees and 50% occupancy in the red buses, sources in the transport body said.
“The BEST is incurring huge losses in operations. It has to pay the lease rent for over 1,000 buses, besides maintaining its own fleet of nearly 3,000 buses daily,” said a BEST panel member. “The BMC should sanction more financial aid for the red buses so that we can operate them despite losses and offer affordable fares to commuters.”
In pre-Covid times, the BEST undertaking would earn Rs 60 crore every month from ticket sales, which reduced to around Rs 40 crore in March, and now further to around Rs 20 crore.