Mumbai: BEST Buses Lead in Failures; 67,000 Breakdowns in 5 Years Leave Citizens Struggling

Best Bus, which is known as Mumbai's second lifeline, is currently on ventilator. According to the five-year statistics, the number of buses owned by BEST has been reported to be 5 percent more than the contract ones, but in the last year, the breakdown of contract buses has more than doubled. In 2023, the number of BEST breakdowns was 6,278 and the number of contract bus breakdowns reached 14,167. From 2019 to March 2024, BEST buses broke down 67,804 times. 

Also, the number of breakdowns in contract trains is 29,269, while the number of breakdowns in BEST is 38,535. BEST has only 1,085 buses, despite the rule requiring it to own 3,337 buses. There is a possibility that the fleet will further decrease by 2025 as the fitness period of many buses will end. The initiative does not have funds available to purchase self-owned buses at this location. Therefore, many self-owned 'unfit' buses are running on the road, and the passengers have to bear the trouble of that failure. As self-owned buses are not available, the initiative has started increasing the fleet of private contractors' buses. Although the number of bus breakdowns of BEST is more during the period 2019 to 2023, the number of breakdowns of contract buses is more during the period 2022 to March 2024.

Not getting financial help from the municipality-

1) The BEST initiative is currently in financial trouble and BEST needs financial assistance from the municipality.

2) Since it is not available, BEST has started contracting. This has also affected BEST's own service, said Suhas Nalavde, general secretary of BEST Jagrut Samgar Sangathan.

The traffic police also fever-

1) When the bus breaks down, the traffic police along with the passengers have to reach the spot.

2) They have to work very hard to clear the traffic by towing the stalled bus immediately. Therefore, he believes that BEST's repair and management team and cranes should be ready.