The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking is all set to go the digital way by introducing online payment getaways for commuters soon. However, commuters who regularly use the official app of the transport undertaking believe the app, BEST Pravas, requires a rework as it is mired with technical malfunctions.
Unveiled by Uddhav Thackeray in September 2019, the BEST app was meant to provide commuters with time tables of buses and help them track buses live on certain specified routes. The app was initially launched on Google’s playstore but is now available on Apple’s app store.
Meanwhile, six months after its release, Mumbaikars believe there are certain drawbacks that often cause inconvenience to its daily usage.
Thirty eight year-old Suresh Rane is a regular commuter of BEST and says that most of the information on the routes are not available in the application.
“I feel the app is still incomplete and a lot of technical upgradation is required. Information on many routes is unavailable and tracking buses become impossible at times,” Rane stated.
BEST is in the process to improve its service and has pressed as many as 300 new buses on several routes across the city by procuring them on wet-lease. Also, it has been introducing three new routes every week over the last two months.
“New routes are introduced every week, but these are not updated in the app. If I type the bus number in the app, it shows ‘content not available’ most of the time even if it’s an available route,” said Vaidehi Joshi, a management professional.
Joshi also claimed that despite lodging complaints, the glitches are not being rectified.
“I had tweeted by taking a screenshot of the malfunctions being faced two months back. BEST replied saying the issue will be resolved. But the same is being repeated almost every time,” Joshi added.
When Freepress Journal used the application, it was found the time table option was not available. The real-time tracking feature didn’t work efficiently as the app crashed a few times while launching the tracking service. It was also found that the various route information was not available in certain routes.
Meanwhile, BEST has floated the proposal of digital ticketing, which got approved following the consent of committee members and BEST’s management.
Speaking on the matter and learning about the technical glitches, BEST general manager, Surendrakumar Bagde said, “We are recording each and every complaint and are working on upgrading the services in the digital platforms, as we are living in a technically advanced era.”
