In what seems to be a welcome break from the constant rivalry between different municipal transport bodies within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the Birhanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking and the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) undertaking have set up a combined bus shelter for both their buses at Mulund Station.
While the rivalry between BEST and TMT was predominantly along the coveted Thane-Borivali Route (AS-700 and AC-65), it eventually expanded to other routes including non-AC ones as well. Thankfully, it never went as bad as the relationship between BEST and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking went when in 2010, NMMT refused entry to BEST’s AS-505 to its bus station at CBD Belapur while BEST refused entry to AC-125 at Santacruz and Bandra Bus Station.
While BEST and TMT (also NMMT) buses do enter each others’ bus stations and halt at each others’ bus stops, they are always clearly demarcated. For example, at Agarkar Chowk, TMT buses stop at a unipole marked with TMT’s routes, similarly on the Thane Belapur Road, bus shelters will see a separate unipole for BEST buses.
The bus stop at Mulund is an initiative of the local corporator Prakash Gangadhare of the Bharatiya Janata Party, representing Ward No 104 of the T-Ward in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) who is also a member of the BEST committee. It was built by combining three existing bus stops –Dr Rajendra Prasad Road and Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road and Mulund Railway Station (West) and is located at Jata Shankar Dosa Road (JSD Road). The earlier TMT bus stops have been demolished by the MCGM.
BEST buses that earlier stopped at Dr Rajendra Prasad Road include the following: 303, 396 Ltd, 398 Ltd, 422, 424, 460 Ltd, C-16 Exp.
BEST feeder buses that earlier stopped at Sardar Patel Road include the following: 391, A-402, A405, A412.
TMT buses that stopped nearby earlier include: 85, 88, 102, 104, 110, 115, 122.
Fellow transit fan and BEST enthusiast Vishal Naik took some photographs of the bus stop. Another BEST enthusiast, Rupak Dhakate pointed out that the bus stops should be segregated since they would cause confusion between BEST and TMT users. He also pointed out that the current route signage did not differentiate bus routes based on the colour coding that BEST uses – black for regular, red for limited, blue for air-conditioned and green for express routes – another potential situation that may cause confusion.
Below are some pictures of the bus stop, clicked by Vishal Naik.
Of course, there is a small problem. Apart from the congestion issues that Rupak mentioned earlier, there is also the issue of auto-rickshaws.
When BEST launched its AC mini-buses in Andheri in late 2019, auto-rickshaws cried foul as they quickly lost patrons. In the case of Mulund, it seems the auto-rickshaw fleet pre-empted that and decided that they’d park right in front of the new bus stop. Looks like the Mumbai Traffic Police have a task on their hands.
Let’s hope this bus stop does well for both BEST and TMT!
Featured Image: Photo of Prakash Gangadhare at the new bus stop (Gandharva Purohit)
Do follow Rupak on Twitter (slzrupak) and Instagram (@mlv.rupak).
Do follow Vishal on Twitter (@vnaik23) and Instagram (@not_huge).
Do follow Gandharva on Twitter (@gp30543).
If you intend to step out please wear a mask, carry sanitizer and maintain social distancing.
Awesome! Hoping to see such initiatives in future too, maybe a combined transport body too!