Mumbai: Four months on, no BEST buses from Bandra station to BKC

Even as commuting to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) remains a challenge because of the lack of planned public transport, it has become even more difficult for the past four months.

Even as commuting to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) remains a challenge because of the lack of planned public transport, it has become even more difficult for the past four months.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has curtailed its bus service to the metropolitan court, instead of the Bandra railway station, from December 2014.

While the BEST had said the services would be resumed in a couple of months, almost three months later, the situation looks unlikely to improve soon.

For commuters, this means they either have to wait for 10 to 15 minutes for an autorickshaw near the station, or use the skywalk to take buses bound for BKC, Kalanagar or the government colony.

The BEST operations were stopped owing to the ongoing flyover construction by the Western Railway (WR) near the Bandra (East) station, as officials claimed there wasn’t enough space to manoeuvre the buses.

Apart from the office-goers in BKC, residents of Kalanagar, the government colony and Maharashtra Nagar have been inconvenienced by the curtailment of the bus service. Some commuters slammed the BEST’s argument, saying private buses are still coming up to the station.

“The private buses come straight up to the station and people use them. It seems the BEST, by this move, wants to benefit private bus operators and autorickshaws,” said Suvarna Agharkar, a resident of Gandhi Nagar.

BEST staffers admitted that in the past four months, the number of passengers using their facility has gone down.

“Because of the ongoing construction work, there is no space to turn the buses around. So, we have had to curtail the services till the metropolitan court. We have requested the civic body to remove the divider, so that we can take the midi-buses up to the station,” said a BEST official from Dharavi depot, requesting anonymity.

SR Singh, assistant municipal commissioner, said: “I will look into the request sent by BEST.”