For the last 20 years, Radheshyam Soni (49) has been commuting by bus from Bandra West to his workplace in Tata Colony. His waiting time has increased from 10 mins to 30 mins minimum. “Bus come late all the time, and in the morning, queues are long, I changed my travel timing from 8 A.M to 10 A.M, so that my waiting time is reduced, however, I still, at least wait half an hour for a bus but saved from long queues,” said Soni, who has been encountering regular bus delays, over-crowding, and inadequate access to only last mile connectivity. Soni works for a private construction contractor, he sometimes takes a shared autorickshaw that charges Rs.20, whereas the bus ticket fare is Rs. 5, so the bus is the only affordable mode of transport. 

Every bus commuter is facing this situation, visit any bus stop whether in South Mumbai or Suburbans, a common view is- long queues of people impatiently waiting for the bus. Dhanshree Pawar (38), an accountant who takes bus number 316 canvas distance between Bandra East and Aranya Colony says, “Bus do not come on time, subsequently, the next scheduled buses also get late, further leading to overcrowding.” 

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) buses are known as the lifeline of Mumbai in case of last-mile connectivity. BEST, an autonomous body under the city’s civic corporation, currently, providing last-mile connectivity to 35 lakh people every day is declining. Like Soni and Pawar, commuters of Mumbai travelling on different routes have been suffering from irregular bus timings, inaccuracy of BEST’ App Chalo, low frequency, and discontinuation of a few routes.

The inefficiency in services is due to the reduced fleet of buses and traffic congestion due to increased vehicles on the road. “We are somehow managing with 3182 buses; the buses are scheduled on time, and with traffic increased and poor roads, the speed of buses has reduced, and they are failing to reach on time. Soon, more buses will be added, resolving the issue, said a BEST official. General Manager of BEST, Anil Diggikar appointed six months back did not respond.

Shrinking of fleet and opposition to Wet-lease bus

The BEST bus fleet is shrinking. Nidhi (27), a local journalist, who travels on different routes across Mumbai via bus, says, that a few routes earlier had a good amount of buses such as Dharavi to Mazagaon has reduced.

Currently, BEST have a fleet of 3182 buses, including 1070 owned buses and 2112 wet-leased buses. By 2025, the BEST will have approximately 700 owned buses scrapped- every bus has a validity of 15 years- and in 2027, it will come down to 220 owned buses in the fleet. Amchi Mumbai Amchi BEST (AMAB), a citizens’ group convener Vidyadhar Date said, “Government need to purchase its buses as it has impacted lakhs of daily commuters.”

So far, BEST has issued a tender mostly for wet-lease buses- they are outsourced from private companies along with drivers and paid on a per/ kilometres basis. Citizen associations are concerned that a shrinking fleet of owned buses will erase the public transport facilities, leading to privatisation.

In 2022, 2100 wet-lease buses were to be supplied before August 2023. However, only 243 buses are availed. Another 250 double-decker buses were ordered, with only 50 buses delivered. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mumbai’s civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), BEST was supposed to maintain a fleet of 3333 owned buses, but failed to do so, due to mounting deficit and lack of financial assistance, as per a BEST official from engineering department.

Mumbaikars and various organisations have criticised the government for the poor management of crucial public transport and called wet lease buses, a “systematic way of dismantling BEST for privatisation”, merely a cover for winding down BEST for opening its land holdings for commercial exploitation and preventing BEST from posing competition to the Metro project. 

“Government policy is focused on car-based infrastructure, building metros which are not affordable. The funds are made available for coastal road projects worth Rs. 15000 crore but have no provision for buses,” Urban Planner, Hussain Indorewala said.,

The state is eyeing transport land to commercialise on the pretext of redevelopment, so far Deonar Depo, Wadala Depo, Ghatkopar Depo, and many such areas are given for redevelopment,” said 

Ranganath Satavase,a Former BEST employee and Secretary BEST Kamgar Sangathan. BEST has over 300 acres of land with 27 depots and 55 bus stations on it.

Meanwhile, BEST opted for the Wet-lease model around 2019 to cut the operation costs and pull the BEST profit-making company. It pays Rs. 45-50 per kilometre with a contractor to ride fixed kilometres of 6000 per month, whereas an owned bus incurs Rs.105 per kilometre, with a cost price of one bus being around 50 lakhs and 1.2 crore for an electric bus. BEST officials from the accounts department said, “BEST has a deficit of over 3500 crores, the sanctions from BMC are not enough to bridge the viability gap and buy owned buses. The per day earnings of BEST are 2 crores, on average 60 crores per month and the expenses are 240 crore monthly, 120 crore loss is incurred every month. Wet-lease buses are the way to substantially lower the expenditure.”

Wet-leasing may look cheaper on paper, but the fixed costs of BEST are the same. When wet-lease buses come in, they bring their drivers, but permanent employees here remain, and the overhead still exists. For now, it does not make sense,” said a source. Besides, there has been a delay in delivering the wet-lease buses, further making it difficult for BEST to cope with the demand. 

Downfall of BEST

Fleet shrinking, overstaffing, mounting gratuity of retired employees, and increasing cost of operations led to the downfall of BEST 2010 onwards, BEST officials believe. In 2010, it had over 4500 bus fleets, over time buses were scrapped and hardly replaced by new buses. The ridership has come down to 35 lakhs from 40 lakhs in 2010.

However, Mr Ranganath believes overstaffing was not the issue, since the cross-subsidy from the electricity division stopped in 2005, wherein the subsidy was paid from the surplus of the electricity division, and the deficit started reflecting in BEST. As the concept of BEST must earn profit came in privatisation, reduction of services, and an increase of fare prices kind of policy was put in place. Deficit occurred year by year is to be subsidized by BMC under Section 134 of MMC Act 1888.”

Citizens’ associations and unions demand to have a fleet of 6000 buses.