Slower speeds have led to fewer accidents

Over the past five years, the average speed of a BEST bus on the streets of Mumbai has come down from 17 kmph to 12 kmph.

The speed of a vehicle determines the impact of an accident thus with the speed of buses slowing down, the number of accidents has dropped too.

Thanks to the traffic, BEST has been struggling to meet the mandatory kilometers per day. Officials attribute this to Metro construction work in particular which has led to at least two lanes being unavailable to motorists.

“A few years ago, each bus was expected to complete around 190-200 kms per day which has come down to 170-180 kms,” said an official from BEST.

While this drop in speed has helped to curb fatalities, it has affected the system’s already suffering punctuality which has led to an Undertaking taking a hit in terms of number of passengers that have turned to share taxis and autos for short distances. The BEST has been taking several measures to address the falling number of passengers.