Mumbai: 450 more BEST buses to hit the streets soon

Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) will be inducting 450 buses in its fleet over the course of the next five months.

The buses will be procured on a wet-lease basis from Anthony Garages Pvt. Ltd. and Shri Krupa Service Pvt. Ltd. The undertaking plans to get 100 mini AC buses, 100 non-AC buses and 25 midi non-AC buses each from the two companies, as stated by a BEST official.

In their deal, BEST plans to induct 25% of the buses within three months. The next 50% of buses will be inducted by the end of the fourth month and the last 25% in the fifth month.

This move comes in the light of the recent announcement made by the new civic chief, Praveen Pardeshi, last month that the budgets of the parent body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be merged with that of the BEST. Until the mergers, the debt-ridden undertaking will receive financial aid of Rs 100 crore every month from the municipal body to improve its transport wing.

Also, on Tuesday evening, BEST and their Workers Union signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which paved way for the administration to hire buses on wet lease in which the drivers and maintenance is the responsibility of contractors.

As previously reported in DNA, the transport body is currently going through tough times as it sports the lowest bus count ever of 3,284, down from 3,322 that it sported in December last year. This is primarily due to the scrapping of the old buses from its fleet. With this new recruitment, BEST hopes to improve its number of buses.

The undertaking is currently staring at losses as there is not a single route that makes a profit as its ridership has dwindled in numbers over the past few months.

BEST Revival?

• The buses will be procured on a wet-lease basis from Anthony Garages Pvt. Ltd. and Shri Krupa Service Pvt. Ltd over the course of the next five months 
• The undertaking plans to get 100 mini AC buses, 100 non-AC buses and 25 midi non-AC buses each from the two companies