Two months after BEST announced its intentions to rationalise fares, BEST has kept its promise and revised them.
BEST has already started the new AC routes [AS310, AS415, AS71, AS72] proposed, and as of 1st July 2016, the new fares are in operation..
The new BEST committee headed by the BJP has done well in giving BEST the necessary shot in the arm.
The new rates are close to half of the earlier ones.
The usual conditions, such as 15 paise nutrition surcharge, concessional fares for children below 12, flat fare of ₹2 for visually-impaired passengers, additional charge of ₹1/₹5 for non-AC/AC buses beyond MCGM limits and luggage rates are applicable.
Passes and Happy Hours
For passes, monthly and quarterly rates have been reduced. For Daily Passes, the rates for the non-AC passes are the same. The AC Magic Day Pass now costs ₹150, as was the case before the April 2015 fare revision.
A separate fare structure exists for Children, which costs roughly half the regular adult fare.
The concept of Happy Hours has been introduced, between 1100hrs and 1700hrs [11am to 5pm]. During Happy Hours, all passes are sold at the rate of Child Passes.
For the full fare revision; please click here.
A friend reported that post the fare revision, a ₹105 trip from the JVLR/Jay Coach Junction to Airoli in an AS524 now costs ₹65.
This would mean that a trip from Thane Station [East] to Borivali Station [East] on AS700 would cost around ₹75-80 instead of ₹120, bringing it on par with TMT AC65 and NMMT AC131.
Similarly, Agarkar Chowk to Mulund Check Naka Bus Station on As422 should cost ₹60 instead of ₹100.
All this brings BEST on par with NMMT and TMT in terms of fares. Interestingly, while NMMT/TMT have hiked their fares in view of the recent introduction of a 6% Luxury Tax by the Government of India, similar to BMTC and TSRTC, BEST has reduced the fares. One would have to assume that the new reduced fares are inclusive of this surcharge.
Now, with the new fare structure in place, BEST needs to work on a few things, mostly dealing with its AC fleet. They are:
- Fix the Cerita fleet. Get them in working order as long as they are around. Some of them have been converted into non-AC buses to replace the Starbus fleet that has been taken off the roads.
- Get those 46 Volvos from Asian Concierge. Crucial for BEST to remain in the competition.
- Reintroduce routes such as AS422, AS4, AS1 on Sundays.
- Reintroduce discontinued routes such as AS505 to take on NMMT’s AC105.
BEST is certainly moving in the right direction. With a few more steps, it can soon recover its losses and be a role model for other Transcos.
May the Imperialist BEST defeat the newcomers onto the market TMT and NMMT.
BEST should wipe out TMT and NMMT.
The fare cut is perplexing as it is disproportionate. As the distance increases, % cut reduces drastically. For eg, old Rs 100 fare becomes Rs 50. But old Rs 120 (Thane – Borivali/Airoli – Borivali) has become 95.
So, on Thane Borivali sector BEST won’t do any significant damage to TMT/NMMT as their fare is still higher than both by Rs 10 & 5 respectively, frequency of buses is low. Moreover performance differential (thus journey time difference) in Cerita & Volvo widens even more on Ghodbunder road with its numerous inclines to climb.
However service on JVLR & WEH are seeing improvement in patronage. With 1 drawback nearly corrected, they now should concentrate on fleet. Even if not Volvos, they should at least go for Janbus from Ashok Leyland which is available in AC.
I’m personally waiting for the Tata Starbus Hybrid fleet to hit the roads.
When Scania has a biofuel bus in Nagpur, once can very well be inducted on a trial in Mumbai.
Maybe BEST can try out the BYD Electric Bus like BMTC did.
Will certainly help in increasing patronage.
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