Many bus stops in Mumbai not in ‘BEST’ shape

BEST committee member Sanjay Potnis on Friday lambasted the administration for not regulating the contractor’s work. “Many times we witness only the skeletons of the bus stops at several locations because the contractor has not received advertisements for the bus stops. Only those which are located in prime areas that provide good visibility for the advertisements get built properly,”

Potnis complained. He also pointed out that, as per official rules, yellow boxes on roads in front of the bus stops ought to be painted and their maintenance was ensured periodically, but none of the above is being done.

“We at the BEST did not give the contract because we were only interested in earning money. We wanted to provide a good facility to passengers so that they could protect themselves from heat and monsoons. However, many areas do not even have a bus stop. The other day, a commuter complained that even the KEM hospital does not have a BEST bus stop,” Potnis said.

Of the 4288 bus shelters spread across the city, 2781 are newly built using steel. The remaining 1507 bus stops are of the two other categories.

Presently, the BEST has three different categories of bus queue shelters: one is of the newly built full steel body variety; second is made of poles which has space only for standing in the queues; while the third is made of steel or aluminum roofs which also has some seating space for commuters. A spokesperson for the BEST said that the undertaking is planning to gradually convert all bus shelters to the steel body type.

BEST general manager Om Prakash Gupta sought to assure that the administration was aware of the problem and was serious about addressing it. “We will write to the contractor again about the problem so that commuters do not face any inconvenience,” he said.