Claiming imminent closure, BEST pleads for rides

In an unprecedented move, Mumbai’s famed BEST bus transport is making desperate appeals to commuters to use its network more frequently, failing which the company will have to shut down operations entirely.

A Mumbai Mirror report today noted how the embattled 142-year-old Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport has put up posters across the city, highlighting its precarious financial position, and literally begging with the city’s residents to use the bus service more frequently instead of trains and autos. The local train service currently moves about 7.5 million people daily.

"BEST and the railway have been the lifeline of this city and have played a key role in the development of the city. Now, BEST's condition has become very grim as the citizens of Mumbai have deserted the undertaking. It has become difficult to run operations. We appeal to the entire city that they should patronise buses and help sustain the BEST,” the posters say.

BEST officials were reported as saying that the company is expecting to inccur losses of more than Rs 1,000 crore by the end of FY2016, slightly more than the Rs 950 crore loss last year. 

“BEST is facing a grim situation and that's why we have decided to go to people and tell them about this. It is about involving stakeholders in the process. It is not to generate panic but to learn from them what they require and get up the occupancy figures,” BEST general manager Jagdish Patil was quoted as saying.

All BEST bus routes have stopped making profits for the last financial year and the daily number of passengers has come down below 32 lakh, he added.

Both fleet occupancy and actual fleet numbers have come down, the report said. Officials said that occupancy reduced by 58% as compared to the previous year, while the number of buses has come down to 4,200 buses from 4,500 earlier.   

The report quoted sources saying that if things didn't change, the state government and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation would have to infuse funds to bail out the undertaking.