A few months ago, BEST decided to slash its fares along the Delhi model. While I’m not to fond of the new fare structure, it has worked. Empty buses are now full. Crowds have shifted from autos to buses and sometimes, even the Metro has less crowd.
Under the new fare structure; the minimum fare for non-AC buses (regular, limited and express is ₹5 for 0-5km, ₹10 for 5-10km, ₹15 for for up to 15km and ₹20 for further distances. The corresponding fare for AC buses is ₹6, ₹13, ₹19 and ₹25 respectively.
BEST has now started to bring back their AC buses, expanding on the earlier fleet of Tata Starbus Diesel-Electric Hybrids operating on BKC routes. It has introduced Electric AC buses built by Olectra (formerly Goldstone) along with AC mini-buses (my transit group calls them postvans) that seat 21 passengers. These mini-buses are diesel-powered buses that are manufactured by Force Motors and have been contracted by BEST on a wet lease – wherein the driver also belongs to the lessor. While Olectra’s buses are on Wet Lease from them, the mini-buses are on lease from several agencies (indicated either on the front and rear of the bus next to the depot name and on the MV Act declaration on the side).
Buses supplied to Oshiwara Depot have come from an operator called Hansa City Bus (HCB).
Some routes such as AS51 (shares the same route as 51 from Colaba Depot to Santacruz Depot) and AS-6 (same as 6Ltd from Colaba Depot to Tata Power, Chembur) share the same routes as their non-AC counterparts, while some don’t.
BEST started deploying these mini-buses under a conductor-less model at Andheri Station (West). Several routes have been pushed into action. A-251, A-249 and A-221. While the former two run from Andheri Station (West) to Seven Bunglows (Saat Bangla) Bus Station with a stop at Four Bungalows (Char Bangla), the latter runs to Juhu Vile Parle Bus Station (JVPD) with a stop at Juhu Shopping Centre.
Also Read: Conductor-less buses: A boon or a bane?
From Andheri (West) Bus Station, the following are the routes:
- A-221 Andheri Station (W) <=> JVPD Bus Station
- A-235 Andheri Station (W) <=> Monginis Cake Company (Citi Mall)
- A-242 Andheri Station (W) <=> Monginis Cake Company (City Mall)
- A-248 Andheri Station (W) <=> Ramesh Nagar
- A-249 Andheri Station (W) <=> Seven Bungalows Bus Station
- A-251 Andheri Station (W) <=> Seven Bungalows Bus Station
- A-254 Andheri Station (W) <=> Veera Desai Road Police Station
From Andheri (East) there is only one AC bus and that is BKC-16 from Agarkar Chowk to SEEPZ Village. This is a regular bus (with a conductor) and uses the Tata Starbus Hybrid buses that belong to the Dharavi Depot.
Thankfully, them Purple Faeries are no longer around.
The timings for most of these buses (not all) are available on BEST’s app, BEST प्रवास (Prawas) that can be downloaded here for Android and here for iOS/Apple devices.
This post is dedicated to my friend Yash, who’s been an ardent supporter of my writing. You can follow Yash on Twitter @Yash_Railfan
Featured image is of a mini-bus at Andheri Bus Station, image credits Karthik Nadar. You can follow Karthik on Twitter @karthikist.
