BEST’s ridership fell by 1cr in 2019; PRO says no.s went up after fare revision

The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking lost around 1 crore passengers in 2019 despite slashing fares on July 8, revealed data released

The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking lost around 1 crore passengers in 2019 despite slashing fares on July 8, revealed data released by the transport body. In 2019, BEST recorded a ridership of 85.17 crore passengers, against 86.52 crore in 2018. The transport body’s revenue collection also dipped to ₹736.11 crore in 2019, from ₹987.27 crore earned in the previous year.

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Meanwhile, BEST’s daily ridership witnessed a marginal decline last year from 23.70 lakh in 2018 to 23.33 lakh in 2019, while the average daily revenue fell to ₹20.16 crore in 2019 from ₹27.04 crore in 2018. BEST’s administration, however, has denied the loss in ridership. Manoj Varhade, BEST’s deputy public relations officer, said, “It is not true that BEST has lost its ridership in a year. In fact, if you cross-check the data, you will find a sharp rise in the ridership after July.”

After the fares were slashed, BEST recorded the highest ridership of 8.9 crore passengers in December 2019, while the lowest passenger count was recorded in January (5.03 crore) of the same year.