BEST, which had announced conductorless buses as far back as 2015, has been rather successful at operating conductorless buses with their new AC minibus fleet.
However, one thing seems to have gone unnoticed is that BEST has been trying out its conductor-less buses with it’s non-AC fleet as well. Among the routes known are 477 from Borivali Railway Compound (East) to Rushi Van, 248 from Andheri Station (West) to Ramesh Nagar and 298 from Borivali Railway Station (East) to Raval Pada. The buses used in these are BEST’s CNG-powered Midi-bus fleet with their rear door closed.
Now, according to Yash, who shared this image on Twitter, this is used on routes where the number of stops are very few. In his tweet, he says that 2/3 of the buses on 298 are conductorless, which is a bad move. He says that major passenger flow is in peak direction (towards station in the mornings and from station in the evenings) and there are people boarding and disembarking at all stops. Skipping stops isn’t ideal as well, he argues, stating that there are a sum total of seven buses on the route.
I’m inclined to agree here. What are your thoughts?
Are conductor-less buses feasible on every route?
Featured image: A bus conductor waiting for an AC conductor-less bus at Mahalakshmi Station
Should go for flat-fare contactless card payment systems with front-boarding and rear exit disembarking, like other successful transit systems. Solutions like blocking rear exits are inefficient
Thanks for the post, Srikanth!
The initial non AC conductorless services began with short route of 110, from Wadala stn to Vidyalankar, now replaced by AC Mini buses.
Very inefficient move for 298 considering all bus stops are missed towards Rawalpada, including National Park where majority of bus passengers change buses. Towards Borivali, only one stop at Ashokvan, but can’t expect people to walk up to either of two bus stops.
Basically conductorless model is good, but only when implemented on viable routes and in a right way.
Travelled by A42 (just 2 stops) for free as there was no conductor. Bring NCMC on BEST.