[TusharK]

According to media reports, commuters flocked to Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) bus stops causing overcrowding as fares were reduced to Rs. 5 for a 5 km ride. Besides the huge crowds at bus stops, buses were reported to be arriving late.



Reports suggest that BEST will also reduce the fare for air-conditioned buses to Rs. 6 for 5 km. It is said to cost a maximum of Rs. 20 to travel anywhere in Mumbai, Thane or Navi Mumbai or Rs. 25 in an AC bus. In comparison, the minimum fare for shared autos and taxis is around Rs. 8.

According to BEST, the low fares are expected to promote the use of public transport, reduce congestion and pollution.

Source: Times of India

Link to Team-BHP News

[rahulskumar]

The best part is maximum fare for AC buses capped to Rs.25. I think this should be the cheapest fare in India. The only problem will be for those who board these buses enroute as there wont be any space to even stand, passengers who board from the starting point can really enjoy these rates

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by rahulskumar

The best part is maximum fare for AC buses capped to Rs.25. I think this should be the cheapest fare in India.

Well, on my commute to work, BEST used to run an AC bus, but its no longer the case. Since their episode with the (in)famous King Long buses, most AC bus routes have been curbed. This has given a good opportunity to NMMT who are running AC buses and capitalising on the demand.

FYI, Vashi to Dadar NMMT fare is 80 bucks one way. If BEST resumes the AC bus, 25 bucks is a steal.

EDIT - Here's the timetable from the BEST website. Its dated Jan 2017, but on a glance, I can see most of these routes are no longer served.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by rahulskumar

The best part is maximum fare for AC buses capped to Rs.25.

How is this the best part? Think about it from BEST's point of view. Rs. 25 as maximum fare for a city as spread out and as traffic-dense as Mumbai is financial suicide.

Found this article:

While the fact that the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking is incurring heavy losses is well-known, an RTI query has revealed how the undertaking could not earn profits on even 10 bus routes in any one month of the past five years. BEST runs its bus services on 504 routes.

The BEST authority has stated that only two routes of the total 504 services are profitable. As per the data, the most profitable route in a month during the aforementioned period made Rs 30.97 lakh in 2016 - a far cry from the highest loss-making route which incurred a loss of Rs 68.38 lakh in 2015.

In 2016, the most loss-making route in a month was Rs. 51.91 lakh.

https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/repo...e-data-2625551

For an entity that is in such poor financial health, the Rs. 25 cap is not to be cheered to be honest. over time, this will bleed the organization; and that will eventually reflect on bus procurement, maintenance, route/schedule availability and service quality.

Agree that public transport needs to be supported and marketed well, and it has to enable all sections of society to travel but the service has to make financial sense as well.

[neofromcapone]

I am really keen to see how this plays out.

They definitely need more buses.
It should help in reducing the share-a-rick (which a menace outside the railway stations)
Which in turn would mean fewer vehicles on the road.
The poor who travel by buses, will save money.

Looks promising let's see the implementation

[rahulskumar]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

How is this the best part? Think about it from BEST's point of view. Rs. 25 as maximum fare for a city as spread out and as traffic-dense as Mumbai is financial suicide.

Public transport should be affordable to masses and should be run as a non-profit venture. When the rates are high, the poor suffers a lot. Moreover I've never heard BEST generating profit. I remember the days when they used to charge additional amount in our monthly electricity bill to narrow down the loses. Atleast with the reduced fare, these buses will run at full capacity. Most of the buses are running on CNG. BEST needs to reduce the workforce to maintain a bus. They can introduce some smartcard where we swipe the pass while entering and again swipe it when we exit, capping the fare for the maximum amount for the route. We do not need conductors for each and every bus and workforce needs to be modernized. BEST cannot expect to generate any profit if they continue with the current operation model.

[amtak]

BBMP has a lot of unused Volvos whic they are planning to give it to other KSRTC operators. Perhaps, BEST should reach out to them and take around 100 Volvos on lease. re-start old routes which were cut short. Capping the fare to max 25 and good buses in fleet will ensure optimum foot falls.

People take NMMT or KDMT or MBMT because they hae Volvos.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Well, on my commute to work, BEST used to run an AC bus, but its no longer the case. Since their episode with the (in)famous King Long buses, most AC bus routes have been curbed.

Mate please don't make Xiamen King Long United Automotive Co. a scapegoat of what was the biggest jugaad pulled off by that imbecile buffoon called Uttam Khobragade who was at the helm of BEST then and a sham company called JCBL. Khobragade is one of the many persons responsible to sink BEST. Needless to say he and JCBL made millions out of the deal while bleeding BEST.

Xiamen King Long United Automotive Co. makes world class buses which are exported worldwide and used as public transport buses in many first world countries. The local sham company called JCBL hoodwinked all into believing their Cerita bus or whatever that contraption was called as King Long. In reality Xiamen King Long United Automotive Co. has nothing to do with JCBL.

See links for reference:
https://www.moneylife.in/article/the...jab/28126.html

https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/...w/16233184.cms

[AkMar]

With this, one of the most expensive city bus transport has turned into one of the cheapest. Bing a daily commuter, I can definitely say that the ridership has increased.

The AC fares are too low in my opinion. This would be a better fare structure for AC:

3 km ₹10
5 km ₹15
8 km ₹20
10 km ₹25
13 km ₹30
15 km ₹35
20 km ₹40
25 km ₹45
30km and above ₹50

This is still considerably lesser than what it was in Cerita days. They are currently operating a fleet of 25 Tata hybrid diesel buses on routes to BKC. These buses are provided by MMRDA.

As per information from a conductor, the fare collection on AC route from Bandra station to BKC dipped from 7K to 2.5K yesterday, on first day of reduced fare. Reason? Sharp dip in fare from ₹25 to ₹6.

As for more buses, yesterday BEST cleared the proposal for 400 mini AC buses. 200 will arrive by August and all 400 by November in the first batch. These will be wetleased buses. The make is not yet known. I expect that BEST will resume many of the legacy AC routes. They are easy pickings to popularity as nothing was wrong with the routes as such, it was their buses which was the problem.

Hope this solves a few queries raised in previous posts

[Sutripta]

What was the maximum fare in a nonairconditioned bus before this.

Maybe the Rs. 10000 illegal parking fine is related to this, and will be used to subsidise BEST.

Regards
Sutripta

[SoumenD]

Wow. 25INR max for AC buses? Does it even break-even the cost of fuel & maintenance?

I guess that's the cap for Bangalore AC buses as well but from the opposite end i.e. minimum 20-25INR

[GTO]

5 bucks for 5 km . Must be among the cheapest in the world! While I agree that transportation should be subsidised for the poor & needy, those who can afford to pay a fair price definitely should be made to pay. Rs 5 / 5 km is simply unsustainable IMHO.

[DrCar]

As per BEST, their maximum ridership was 45 lakh daily during its peak which reduced to 25 lakhs. As per reports, last year BEST suffered a loss of 720 crores.

Let us assume this hypothesis-
- BEST is able to attain the same target of 45 lakhs passengers daily again after reducing the rates.
-So 20 lakhs passengers are added daily again compared to what they are having now.
-Let us consider the minimum ticket price of Rs.5 for all the added passengers.
-BEST will be able to generate average of Rs. 1 crore daily. In the whole month it will add Rs. 30 crore and in a year Rs. 360 crore to its coffers.
-Also BEST can generate additional 100 crores from advertisements.

All these can generate additional revenue of almost 500 crores if we average out the ticket prices.

Considering the loss that they had last year of 720 crores, BEST still fall short by almost 200 crores.

Dedicated routes from all the major railway station like Dadar, Bandra, Kurla, Borivali etc. should be started till airports and major commercial establishments like BKC to encourage people to use the services. Only passengers with valid ID of the establishment where they are working and valid airlines tickets should be allowed to board these buses. Such buses definitely can charge premium rates. But even if they do so, they will still be cheaper then Autos, Ola/Uber or a personal cars.

They can also provide buses for big schools, marriage functions, Sunday picnics,ply additional buses at major tourist attractions during holidays, etc. to generate additional income.

BEST can definitely start profiting in the long term if they are consistent with the services, increase the frequency in high demand routes during peak hours to reduce rush so that passengers can travel comfortably and provide a better overall experience.

I sincerely hope that BEST survives.

[Dieseltuned]

This step is not for sustainability, it is primarily targeted to get the riders back to BEST which they lost due to their own buffoonery and mis-management. I think I read in some print media that the BMC chief has already called out that the BMC would give out a monthly sum (large sum) in return for the BMC chief sitting on the BEST board.

I stay right next to the bus stop at National park and can surely say that the crowds have swelled at the bus stops. I took a BEST bus from Hub mall in Goregaon to Saki naka today afternoon and was charged a princely sum of INR 10. The feel good factor is surely there and the crowds will definitely come back to BEST, after all nobody wants to travel in cramped share ricks and share taxis given a better bus option is available.


Regards
Dieseltuned

[satrikon_454]

While this sounds fantastic on the onset, it does not look like a long-term option. At best (pun unintended), it's a marketing strategy. If the main motive is just to push people to use public transport instead of private vehicles, I don't think it's the right way to move forward.

A person who has to ditch his bike or car to use buses will not bother spending 5-10 bucks extra on a bus ride, provided he gets cleaner seats and space to sit on them comfortably. If that's not the case, there's no way that majority of the well-to-do background folks will favor public transport over their current rides. With this inexpensive fare, the buses will be all the more crowded and will reduce the cycle crowd at max. Not the best (again, pun unintended) option IMHO.

Off-topic, but Bangalore will be ditching Volvos altogether at a time when Metro and white-topping work is drowning the city to anarchy. The reason being A/C buses running under losses. I know this is not a viable option, but couldn't reducing the fares work here? As far as I know, Volvo buses run half-full, or even lesser, on most routes here.