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Mumbai: BEST sees worst ridership in over a decade

Latest statistics released by the corporation reveal that passenger numbers are at their lowest in the last decade.

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The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) bus service is losing passengers at an alarming rate. Latest statistics released by the corporation reveal that passenger numbers are at their lowest in the last decade. The average daily ridership on the BEST's many routes stands at 26.20 lakh today, down from 28.34 lakh for the corresponding period last year and 42.06 lakh per day a decade ago.

And it's not just the number of passengers that's going down; the number of buses in the BEST's fleet has also reduced: From 3,322 in December last year to 3,248 today, its lowest bus count ever. This, a BEST official said, is down to the corporation disposing of its old buses. "Our bus fleet has dropped, as we are scrapping old buses," the official said.

Even more worryingly, however, there is not a single bus route that is making any profits. The BEST divides its routes in three categories: A routes, that earn profits; B routes, that break even; and C routes, that operate at a loss.

And of the 444 routes criss-crossing the city's roads, there is not one that is 'category A'. Even B-category routes have gone down from 58 in October 2018 to just 15 today. And loss-making C routes have jumped from 390 in October to 429 today.

Of the four months in the year, lowest ridership was noticed for January, where only 16.23 lakh passengers travelled on average by a BEST bus every day.

A drop in daily ridership has coincided with emptier buses as well. The average number of people in a single bus was 64.33, down from 65.78 last year.

Bus, Ho Gaya

  • The BEST runs 444 bus routes, of which not a single route is profitable. While 15 routes just about break even, 429 are loss-making
  • The average number of people in a single BEST bus went down from 65.78 last year to 64.33 this year
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