20 new BEST buses lying idle since a fortnight

EST sources said the buses would be flagged off once the new BEST committee, comprising recently-elected corporators, is nominated

Mumbai: Twenty new electric buses that are supposed to be drafted into the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) fleet have been lying idle inside BEST’s Shivaji Nagar bus depot for a fortnight now, even as commuters suffer due to inadequate buses on roads.

The buses are lying idle inside BEST’s Shivaji Nagar bus depot (Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

BEST officials told Hindustan Times that while the buses, which will be operated on wet lease basis, were delivered by Olectra Greentech earlier this month, some minor works were pending.

“The contractor is carrying out stencil work, such as imprinting bus numbers, details like ‘for women’ behind seats, and other information inside the vehicles. They will be drafted into the fleet once these works are completed,” said a BEST spokesperson.

But BEST sources said the buses would be flagged off once the new BEST committee, comprising recently-elected corporators, is nominated.

“We expect the new committee to be in place in another 7-10 days, after which these buses will be introduced in one go,” a BEST official said on condition of anonymity.

The buses are registered with the Tardeo Regional Transport Office (RTO), and all relevant permissions have been secured, the sources added.

The BEST undertaking currently has 2,744 buses in its fleet, of which 2,495 are operated on wet lease basis while 249 are owned by the undertaking. BEST used to operate 4,800 buses around 15-17 years ago, but the fleet strength now is almost half, officials said.

Shubham Padave, an expert on BEST issues, said that while depots other than Shivaji Nagar did not have any new buses that were lying unused, 25 hybrid buses that had been pressed into service in 2018-19 were lying idle in the BEST’s Dharavi depot.

“The BEST still counts them as operational buses,” Padave said.

According to BEST officials, Mumbai needs around 7,000 buses to serve commuters adequately. The undertaking earns around ₹2.5-3 crore per day from ticket sales, and remains heavily dependent on civic grants, they said.