Less rush on BEST buses as trains resume

As the local trains resumed their operations for the general public, load on the buses of BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking became lower on Monday. Senior officials and depot officers of the BEST stated, during the afternoon the crowd in the buses running on longer routes got lower, however, the pressure remained the same on the feeder routes.

“Most of the feeder route buses provide last-mile connectivity from railway stations, so the pressure on these routes will remain,” said a BEST official.

“During the afternoon the passenger load got lower, in some of the long route buses,” a senior depot manager told FPJ.

“Till last week we had to deploy four buses on some of the long routes, but on Monday we deployed not more than two buses on some routes,” the manager added.

Drivers and conductors also mentioned that the number of people in queues at bus stops was also less on Monday.

“After buses resumed operations in June last year, most of the commuters bought tickets for travelling a long distance, however on Monday the number of passengers travelling in long-distance routes was comparatively lesser,” said a conductor.

BEST spokesperson, Manoj Varade stated, the undertaking will monitor the passenger footfall for the next few days to understand the demand and will accordingly press more buses into service.

“General public is allowed in the local trains during early morning and afternoon, if the need arises we are ready to press more buses into service during this period,” Varade told FPJ.

Varade also mentioned, at present, there is a chance of pressing more buses into service in the 'point-to-point' feeder routes.

“The demand of the feeder route buses will increase with time as more and more people will take suburban trains in the coming days hence to cater to the demand we are ready to run more buses in shorter routes as well,” stated Varade.