This story is from February 17, 2019

Experts blame BEST slump on ‘faulty management decisions’

Experts blame BEST slump on ‘faulty management decisions’
Picture for representational purpose only
MUMBAI: With BEST’s fleet slowly shrinking, the number of commuters taking the iconic red buses daily has fallen by 20 lakh from 45 lakh in 2009, latest data from the transport undertaking show. As a result, the daily ticket earnings, which peaked at Rs 3.7 crore in 2016, has now ebbed to Rs 2.8 crore, which is around the 2011-12 levels.
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One of the main reasons BEST is in the red is that operating costs have nearly doubled in 10 years—the cost has risen to Rs 109 per km from Rs 55—as bus occupancy (load factor) has also gone down from 74% to 53%.
The load factor has reduced as the number of daily commuters has fallen rapidly to 25 lakh due to bad quality AC buses, poor service, hike in fares, long wait at bus stops, poor frequency and cancellation of routes among other factors.
It’s in such a scenario that experts say BMC should bail out BEST with adequate funds to increase the fleet and improve service. Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta allocated a “measly” Rs 34 crore in the BMC budget directing the loss-making transport unit to implement turnaround measures.
Mehta told TOI he refuses to give more funds and stressed that BEST must carry out reforms such as wet lease of buses, cost cutting, etc to ensure efficient service.
Experts blame the slump over the years on “faulty decisions” made by the BEST management, specially procurement of 284 AC Cerita buses in 2009-10 , which later turned "white elephants" and had to be taken off the fleet in 2017. These buses incurred Rs 100 crore losses annually just for maintenance.

“This is a shocking state of affairs,” observed Sunil Ganacharya, a member of the BEST committee for years “Our buses were known globally for efficient transportion of more than 4 million passengers and with a good frequency. It was one of the best bus services in the country, with reputation of good quality buses connected to every nook and cranny of Mumbai," he said.
As the fleet has shrunk by 700 buses, there aren't adequate buses at the stops, leading to longer waiting time for passengers. Now, BEST has 3,337 buses, compared to 4037 a decade ago. At least 113 more buses will be scrapped by March-end, but not a single new bus has been added or replaced.
BEST general manager Surendrakumar Bagde says they will need Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years for revival of the undertaking. However, the need of the hour is to implement some of the turnaround measures.
“We are unable to get any more funding from BEST’s power supply division to run our buses. The Transport Deficit Loss Recovery (TDLR) cess has been discontinued and we cannot cross-subsidise running of buses," he said at a panel meeting recently. He, however, assured that not a single worker will be retrenched when BEST undertakes a slew of reforms to improve its finances.
Transport expert Ashok Datar said that as per calculations made by his organisation, Mumbai Environmental Social Network, for roughly 120 ordinary buses, it costs Rs 45 crore and this increases bus ridership by one lakh daily. “So we can spend Rs 450 crore for addition of 1,200 buses and raise the level of ridership from 25 lakh per day to 35 lakh per day. On the other hand, if we look at government investments in coastal road project of Rs 12,000 crore plus, it will generate car traffic to the extent of only 2 lakh. So it is high time we invested more in buses,” he said.
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About the Author
Somit Sen

Somit Sen, Senior Editor at The Times of India, Mumbai. He covers stories on Power beat in Maharashtra and on Oil & Gas. He also covers RTO, BEST (Mumbai’s public transport buses), transport ministry, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, interstate transport (trucks/tempos) and the fleetcabs.

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