BEST introduces two ring routes in south Mumbai
Mumbai city news: A BEST spokesperson said that the buses ply at regular interval of 10-15 minutes on the ring routes and their fare structure is similar to the buses on the regular routes.
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has introduced two ring routes in south Mumbai. This is the first time that it launched such a service to attract passengers who switched to other modes of transport on shorter routes.
Of the two, the first is route 99 is between Churchgate station and Nariman Point via CCI and Bajaj Bhavan. Buses on the second route 113 will run from Crawford Market to Churchgate via Metro cinema, Bombay Hospital, Bombay Gymkhana, BMC headquarter and GT hospital.
A BEST spokesperson said that the buses ply at regular interval of 10-15 minutes on the ring routes and their fare structure is similar to the buses on the regular routes.
“We may introduce more such routes if we get a favourable response from the commuters,” said the spokesperson.
BEST officials are, however, skeptical about the success of the service. According to them, the ferry bus service which was operational earlier was more effective than the ring route one. After success of ‘Fort ferry service’, BEST introduced four more ferry routes, including one at Sewree. On ferry routes, the fares remain the same irrespective of the travel distance.
BEST buses are the second largest mode of mass transport in Mumbai. Daily about 30 lakh commuters travel on BEST buses in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander. In past few years, BEST has lost lakhs of commuters because of sharp hike in fares and congestion on city routes.