In all my recent posts, I’ve been referring to BEST’s new fleet of mini-buses as Postvans. The reason is simple. They look like India Post’s red post vans. In fact, at Andheri West, the Andheri Railway Station Post Office is located on SV Road, next to the junction with JP Road. It is not uncommon to see postal vans parked outside McDonalds where the bus stop is located. I once stood next a post van without realising that it was a post van and not an A-257.
Yesterday, I spotted two vehicles back to back and took a quick video of it. Now you’ll see what I mean.
Back in 2015, a friend of mine had nicknamed the old Cerita fleet ‘Purple Duds’. For some reason, I nicknamed them ‘Purple Faeries’. In case you’re wondering, those buses weren’t faeries at all. Note; faerie is an old, archaic spelling of fairy. They were clunky, noisy, monstrosities. But the name stuck.
A quick Google search for Purple Faeries Mumbai will throw up image results for the BEST Cerita fleet and other images from this blog. Make sure you select “Search for Purple Faeries” since Google will try searching for “Purple Fairies“.
On 16 November 2019, BEST launched the first of what would be a super successful venture that was replicated across the city. It launched the first AC minibus (them postvans, aka chhotu in some circles) without a conductor, on Route A-251 from Andheri Station (West) to Seven Bungalows Bus Station.
📢NEW AC BUS SERVICE 📢 Commuters can now have an experience of BEST AC bus service from Andheri West from today. Routes A-251 has commenced operation between Andheri Station (W) and Seven Bungalows . #bestupdatespic.twitter.com/jYcgLvF2LH
The route was a big hit, prompting BEST to launch a slew of similar routes in Andheri (West) before gradually expanding to Jogeshwari (West), Goregaon (East), Wadala (West), Dadar (East), Prabhadevi (West), Churchgate, Byculla (West), Mahalaksmi, Grant Road (West) and ultimately Goregaon (West). It also antagonised auto-rickshaws at Andheri because, well, it was cheap.
Shortly after that BEST launched A-249. It was identical to A-251 in its route, and had the same single stop at Four Bungalows. I even asked BEST what the difference was on Twitter, but got no response.
Hi @myBESTBus, what is the difference between A-249 and A-251? Both seem to go from Andheri (West) to Seven Bungalows with a stop at Four Bungalows.
Also, what is the difference between A-235 and A-242, both seem to go from Andheri (West) to Monginis. @Lokhandwala_Bom
Then, on 6 December 2019, BEST announced that A-249 will have an additional stop at Dhake Colony while A-251 will only run between Seven Bungalows Bus Station [Saat Bangla] and Versova-Yari Road Bus Station [Vesave-Yari Marg].
📢 दि. ६.१.२० पासून 🚍 १) ए सी बस मार्गात बदल – ए-२५१ सात बंगला ते वेसावा या दरम्यान चालेल. २) नवीन बस मार्ग ए-२५७ अंधेरी पश्चिम ते जेवीपीडी दरम्यान जेपी रोड, कॉस्मोपॉलिटन मार्गे चालणार आहे. ३) धाके वसाहत येथे ए सी बस मार्ग ए-२४९ साठी अतिरिक्त थांबा देण्यात येतं आहे #bestupdates
This startled many. My transit group wondered why BEST couldn’t run A-251 directly from Versova-Yari Road to Andheri. I had my suspicions but they were finally confirmed today.
The distance between the two, by the direct route: Versova-Yari Road Bus Station -> Versova Village -> Seven Bungalows -> Four Bungalows -> Andheri Sports Complex -> Amboli Village -> Andheri Subway -> Andheri Station is 6.3km while in the reverse direction it is 5.8km.
Note: Despite what Google Maps says, JP Road from Navarang Cinema to SV Road has been a one-way towards the West for over two decades now. Even in 1998, I remember 251 (then a Double Decker) taking a left into Amboli.
This distance puts the route into the next stage bracket; i.e: ₹13.
Yesterday (11 February 2020), BEST announced a new route A-32 from Goregaon Station (West) to Aai Tuljabhavani Chowk/Lokhandwala Complex Junction (Infiniti Mall signal). I responded to them asking why not extend it to Monginis since that is such a big hub with four AC routes stopping there: A-210, A-235, A-260 and A-268. They responded as follows:
Presently One man operation is restricted upto 5 kms i.e fare value of Rs 5 only.
BEST needs to add an additional AC route in this region. Say, A-250. Neither 250 nor A-250 exist at this point. That gives us four AC buses at Seven Bungalows: A-249, A-251, A-210 and this new route. A-249 can continue on the existing route that it has with two stops between Andheri and Seven Bungalows. The new route can service what A-251 currently does, by plying between Seven Bungalows and Versova Yari Road.
A-251 meanwhile should mirror the regular 251 and ply non-stop between Versova-Yari Road and Andheri Station with a single fare of ₹13. That’s it. The auto-fare on this route is in the range of ₹70-80 minimum, plus time taken due to traffic. It will be a huge hit.
The second solution, is a slightly more interesting one.
BEST had gotten 6 out of 50 buses as part of a deal with a company called Asian Concierge. While nobody knows why the remaining 44 never made it to BEST nor what happened to Asian Concierge (Tofler reports its last annual general meeting or AGM in September 2018 and last balance sheet as having been prepared in March 2018), those six buses are still parked at the Oshiwara Depot, according to Google Earth. You might want to click on the tweet to see the full image. The buses are the long red-topped ones with a white box, located towards the bottom left of the depot, north of the Oshiwara river.
Asian Concierge's six Volvo Buses leased to BEST are still parked at the Oshiwara Depot. pic.twitter.com/IAwzX5bbk6
This map is from 15 October 2019. Google Earth’s timeline view shows that between 2017 and 2019, these six buses were parked at various parts of the depot.
While we are uncertain as to why BEST is not using these buses, it can perhaps ply them as a regular AC bus AS-251 with a conductor from Andheri Station to Versova-Yari Road. Their only issue: They’re all single-door buses. The Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen’s Association even asked BEST why they were not in use but we got no reply.
In the last few blog posts, I covered the suburbs and downtown Mumbai, now I’ll attempt to cover midtown.
BEST has launched A-167 from Prabhadevi Station (West) to Comrade P. K. Kurne Chowk (Doordarshan) via Deepak Cinema, A-170 from Prabhadevi Railway Station (West) to Lower Parel via Senapati Bapat Marg (Tulsi Pipe Road), A-218 from Dadar Station (East) to KEM Hospital via Phalke Road, Hindamata Cinema and Dr. B.A Road.
It also launched A-155 (a ring route) from Grant Road Station via Jaslok Hospital and Nana Chowk. This is downtown and not mid-town route and operates using the Tata Marcopolo midi-buses (owned by SMT ATPL and attached to the Mumbai Central depot) mentioned in the previous post.
Coming back to Dadar and Prabhadevi (formerly Elphinstone Road). All the routes are operated by buses owned by MP Enterprises and Associates (identified by MPG) of the Wadala depot. However the Motor Vehicles Act declaration on the side shows the bus registered to the Bandra Depot.
The bus I took was A-167. I boarded the bus from Prabhadevi Station. While waiting for the bus I noticed that a man was sitting there with a large logbook logging details including passenger count, fuel usage and trip distance from the driver. The trip to Doordarshan was pretty uneventful. The bus only stops at the last two stops before terminating. It did not stop at Bombay Dyeing. On the return journey, it picked up passengers from the same two stops but not at Bombay Dyeing. At P. K. Kurne Chowk, there was a man sitting with a logbook just like at Prabhadevi Station. I have not noticed this at Andheri, Goregaon or down south. Perhaps he was employed by the private agency that owns the buses.
The return journey was where I had an issue. There are two bus shelters at P.K Kurne Chowk. The driver opened the doors at the first stop where the route was not marked and a few of us boarded there. At the second stop, the conductor sold tickets and then let passengers board. However, he did not board the bus to check if all passengers had a ticket, which happens at Andheri.
We bought our tickets after disembarking at Prabhadevi Station. At all the stops, the conductor did not have a ticket machine but instead had a single bundle of ₹6 tickets that he punched.
A ₹6 punched paper ticket issued by BEST (Srikanth Ramakrishnan)
There was a ticket examiner at Prabhadevi but he did not check for tickets. This could be problematic in future. The driver should only let passengers board from the designated bus stop and conductors should ensure that all passengers have a ticket before the bus leaves.
Overall, this seems to be a good move. Prabhadevi Station, while served by 167, otherwise lacks decent bus connectivity, forcing passengers to depend on share taxis that are uncomfortable and in bad shape. They charge around ₹20 till Bombay Dyeing at least. This bus will be a godsend to a lot of people in the area, especially folks working for Republic TV. Further with the expansion of the Parel-Prabhadevi station complex and the provisioning of the Parel terminus on the Central Line, the station has become a rather important one. Along with Lower Parel, the area has seen major redevelopment of mill lands on both sides, along Senapati Bapat Marg/Tulsi Pipe Road in the West and Dr. BR Ambedkar Road in the East. This will certainly increase footfalls in the region and improved public transport is the need of the hour. Perhaps its time MMRDA got a little aggressive on getting the Monorail back in action.
To close this post, Tata Motors has won a bid to supply 300 AC electric buses to BEST.
Tata Motors bags tender for 300 AC electric buses from #Mumbai’s BEST. These buses will be subsidised under Govt of India’s FAME II scheme. Of which, 140 buses will be full size 12 meter buses and rest will 9 meter Midi buses.#InfraStorypic.twitter.com/6RqifsWVdT
This last month, I took two trips on two of BEST’s Midi-buses. A Midi-bus, is a slightly larger bus than a mini-bus, a medium-sized bus to be precise. The non-AC equivalent of this is what currently plies on routes such as 627 (from Andheri Bus Station (West) to Mora Village (Juhu)). Below is an example of what it looks like.
A BEST Midi-bus running on 377 from Lallubhai Compound to Kurla Station (East), belonging to the Anik Depot. Photo: Karthik Nadar, Wikimedia Commons.
Now, at this juncture, I’d like to state that BEST currently operates four different types of air-conditioned buses, all of which are of different power types. It operates Diesel-powered minibuses manufactured by Force Motors, CNG-powered midibuses manufactured by Tata Marcopolo, electric midibuses manufactured by Olectra (formerly Goldstone; in partnership with BYD) and Diesel-Electric hybrid full length buses manufactured by Tata Motors under the Starbus brand.
I took the Olectra on Route A-302 that operates from Maharana Pratap Chowk (R Mall/Mulund Check Naka Bus Station) to Rani Lakshmi Chowk (Sion Circle). The bus belongs to the Dharavi/Kala Killa depot and is owned by Olectra (identified by OL next to the depot code) on a wet lease. I boarded the bus at Sarvodaya Hospital in Ghatkopar to Sion. I took the Tata Marcopolo on A-77 from Byculla Station (West) to Breach Candy Hospital. The bus belongs to the Mumbai Central depot and belongs to SMT ATPL Associates (identified by SAA next to the depot code), again on a wet lease. I boarded this bus from Mahalakshmi Station (West) to Breach Candy.
BEST’s BYD Olectra K7 bus. (Sahil pednekar/Twitter)
On the outside, both buses are similar in length and have two doors. The Olectra has a Centre door (that is used) while the Tata has a Rear door (rarely used). On the inside however, the Olectra has standard 2×2 seating, while the Tata has 2×1 seating similar to the minibuses. It has 2 seats per row behind the driver and one on the left. Both buses do have a bell pull, on the left side like the regular buses. The Force minibuses have their bellpull on the right side however.
Except on the rows with emergency exits (penultimate seats), both buses have USB charging points inside them. While Olectra has them at the waist level, Tata has them below the seat, much like the charging points in long distance buses.
Left is USB port on BEST's Olectra Electric AC bus. Right is USB port on BEST's Tata Marcopolo CNG AC bus.
At this point, I’d like to say, please note: While charging your phones in public spaces, keep phones on flight mode. There are numerous reports of Juice Jacking going around. Juice Jacking reports to using the USB port of your device at an unsecured, public charging point to steal data. Of course, it is reassuring that Mikko Hyppönen of F-Secure said that Juice Jacking is theoretically possible but is never seen practically.
Interior of the Olectra (Srikanth Ramakrishnan)
The air-conditioning on the Tata is far ahead of the Olectra. At some point between Ghatkopar and Sion, it became stuffy inside the Olectra and that is not a good sign at all.
The interior of the Tata Marcopolo CNG (Srikanth Ramakrishnan)
BEST has also launched the Olectra on A-352D. Non-AC versions of the Olectra also operate on 302 that shares the same route as A-302. The Tata CNG also operates on A-155 from Grant Road Station (West) as a Ring Route via Tardeo, Haji Ali, Jaslok Hospital, Cumbala Hill Post Office, August Kranti Maidan and Nana Chowk.
BEST also launched A-218 from Dadar Station (East) to KEM Hospital via Phalke Road, Hindmata Cinema on Dr B. R. Ambedkar Road. Presumably this belongs to the Wadala Depot. I also took a ride on A-112 from Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk/Churchgate Railway Station to the Gateway of India. The minibus is attached to the Colaba Depot and is owned by PNM Transport and Mobility Limited, identified as PNM on the body of the bus.
That’s all from me for this time. Till next time, keep taking the bus..
Featured image: BEST’s Tata Marcopolo CNG midibus (Left) and BYD Olectra Electric Midibus (Right) [Srikanth Ramakrishnan]
On Sunday (19 January), BEST announced the launch of two new AC routes, this time in Goregaon. The routes announced were A-447 and A-646. A-447 travels from Goregaon Station (East) to Santosh Nagar (Extension) on the Film City Road while A-646 travels from Goregaon (East) Bus Station to Nagari Niwara 1&2.
📢 NEW AC BUS ROUTE🚍 A-447 between Goregaon Station(E) to Santosh Nagar(Extension) from 20.01.2020 (Monday) First bus : 6.05 hrs Last bus : 23.35 hrs One more faster feeder AC bus service in #mumbai#bestupdates#Goregaon
📢 NEW AC BUS ROUTE🚍 A-646 between Goregaon Station(E) to Nagari Niwara 1 &2 via IT Park Inauguration at 9.00 hrs on 20.01.2020 (Monday) First bus : 6.35 hrs Last bus : 21.15 hrs One more faster feeder AC bus service in #mumbai#bestupdates#Goregaon
On Tuesday (21 January), I headed to Goreagon East to take a trip on these buses. The buses are the same Force Motors Traveller Smart Citibus and are owned by Hansa City Bus (HCB) that also owns the mini-buses that operate at Andheri. However, they belong to the Dindoshi Depot (located on the Goregaon Mulund Link Road) that serves Goregaon (East), Kandivali (East) and Malad (East).
The misnomer here is that while BEST says the bus operates till 11.35 PM, they actually operate only in one direction. Post 9.35 PM, all the A-447s after terminating at Santosh Nagar (Extension) take a U-tun and head back to the depot, sans passengers. There is no schedule available on BEST’s app yet and the bus is not listed on the website. Note: None of of the AC routes are listed on BEST’s Route Network website: ( http://routenetwork.bestundertaking.com/ ). You only see them if you select Area and search for buses between two points. This problem also occurs on A-257 from Andheri Station to JVPD. Buses after 9 PM from Andheri drop off passengers at ESIC Nagar and then head to Oshiwara Depot without going ahead to the station.
I waited nearly 40 minutes for a bus back to the station but there were none. The conductor, seemingly new to this system started issuing tickets when the first bus took a U-turn. However, he then had to take them back and issue refunds after a ten minute wait. This happened with three more buses and each time, the driver didn’t bother talking to the conductor. On the other hand, the conductor called up folks at Goregaon Bus Station as well as Dindoshi Depot to find out if there was a bus or not and kept getting affirmative answers. Ultimately, at 10.40 PM, he was told that no more buses would come back to the station, at which point, those who had a ticket boarded a 447 (non-AC) with an AC ticket.
The conductor was evidently a bit irate at this point, and I would support his frustration. He ranted for a bit on the lack of coordination, stating that it was expected because this was the second day of the service. I told him it’s been happening at Andheri for over a week and he wasn’t surprised.
BEST needs better coordination. Much better coordination.
Note: I have an idea that could help solve this problem, (along with several other problems) that not just BEST, but other transport corporations may face. I’m in the process of writing a detailed article on the topic. Expect it in maybe a week. I can only give one hint: Motorola.
Featured Image: BEST’s A-447 at Goregaon Bus Station (East). Clicked by Srikanth Ramakrishnan.
Back in 2014, BEST had launched a series of buses in and around Andheri (East) called Metro Pheri to serve as feeder routes to various stations along Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro. Unfortunately, they pretty much ran empty.
Mumbai Metro starts the BEST Pheri-1 via Marol Naka,Airport Road & Chakala Metro Stations!Now Travelling made easier! pic.twitter.com/0Z31MUaQYJ
Now, in what seems like a resurgent comeback for BEST, they have started a new route that would act as a feeder for the Metro, this time in the West.
BEST announced the launch of A-260 connecting Oshiwara Depot/Goregaon Depot with Indian Oil Nagar (D N Nagar Metro Station).
📢 NEW AC BUS ROUTE🚍 A-260 between Oshiwara Depot to Indian Oil Nagar(DN Ngr Metro Station) from today. Stops @ Green Park,Millat Ngr, Lokhandwala Jn.,Laxmi Industrial estate First bus : 7.00 hrs,Last bus: 22.00 hrs One more faster feeder AC bus service #mumbai#bestupdateshttps://t.co/jnPSfvZTkc
As mentioned above, the bus stops at Green Park, Millat Nagar, Lokhandwala Junction (Aai Tuljabhavai Chowk) and Lakshmi Industrial Estate. The odd thing is that the bus doesn’t stop at Monginis Cake Company/Citimall where A-235 (and formerly A-242) used to terminate and A-210 has a stop. The junction is also a major starting point for share autos heading for both Andheri Station and the DN Nagar Metro Station.
Along with this, the realignment of A-251 from Versova Yari Road Bus Station to Seven Bungalows Bus Station is also an additional step in providing feeder connectivity to the metro. However, BEST should have extended it to operate from Versova Yari Road to Andheri Station. One must remember at the end of the day that the earlier bus users briefly shifted to the metro when bus fares reached an all time high and have come back to buses. Those who earlier used share-autos have shifted to the Metro while the upper class regular auto and taxi users have not migrated. At least not yet.
On Twitter, I had earlier suggested a route from Veera Desai Road (Extension) to JVPD Bus Station which would act as feeders to both the Azad Nagar and DN Nagar Metro Stations.
A majority of BEST’s services are de facto feeder routes connecting to various railway stations. With the advent of the Metro, this needs to be expanded here as well. The core advantage the Metro has over the Suburban Rail is that because it is not at-grade (elevated or underground), the can start and end at two places that are not necessarily the metro station but intersect them.
BEST needs to do a lot more for the East. The Metro Pheri can perhaps be brought back to connect SEEPZ and MIDC with Chakala, JB Nagar, and Marol (Western Express Highway, Chakala – JB Nagar, Airport Road and Marol naka metro stations). Passengers headed to MIDC and SEEPZ from the Metro are otherwise left at the mercy of auto-rickshaws who for some reason refuse trips. While private players like Shuttl have begun services, mainly to service 91Springboard that has three hubs in the region, BEST needs to step in as well.
Along with this, BEST desperately needs a lot more of these non-stop AC minibuses in the East, primarily from Pinky Cinema (Agarkar Chowk) to Majas Depot. BEST could also experiment with a few of them from Airport Road metro to Terminal 2 and WEH metro/Chakala bus stop to Terminal 1 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
Further, BEST also needs to provide a few services to Monorail stations. While the Mumbai Monorail itself has its own share of problems, all those are in MMRDA’s domain but connectivity to the monorail stations needs to be done.
Perhaps BEST can strike a deal with Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) for more connectivity?
Given BEST’s decision to cancel tenders earlier in December 2019, it seems we will have to wait for a while before things change. The 21-seater Force Motors’ Traveller Smart Citibus seems to be a good choice so far. But until then, let’s hope for the best. (Pun intended).
Featured Image: D. N. Nagar Metro Station (Superfast1111/Wikimedia Commons)
After an amazing start in the last two months using its new minibuses, BEST has now decided to do something rather silly.
To give a background, these buses are super popular. In my previous post, I had mentioned the routes back then. Since then, BEST has added a few new routes in Andheri.
A-252 goes to Sardar Vallabhai Patel Nagar, A-266 and A-268 to Swami Samarth Nagar Circle (Lokhandwala Market), A-203 goes to Juhu Bus Station and A-221 has been extended to Natasha Towers.
BEST further extended the services from Andheri to Jogeshwari, running then on A-180 from Jogeshwari Bus Station to Oshiwara Depot and A-234 running from Jogeshwari to Lokhandwala.
BEST also announced two new routes from Wadala Station, A-174 from Wadala Station (West) to Bharani Naka and A-110 to Vidyalankar (Sangam Nagar).
The Wadala lot was flagged of by newly sworn in cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray.
Happy to have launched 25 mini buses of the @myBESTBus from Wadala Depot. The BEST is on its path to build a network of 6400+ buses to cater to the last mile in Mumbai. With lower fares, better buses, truly BEST is the lifeline of the city. pic.twitter.com/feChonw2qG
Junior Thackeray was instrumental in bringing in Humboldt Penguins from North Chile to Mumbai in 2016, where they were housed at the Veermata Jijabhai Udhyan (Byculla Zoo) prior to the untimely death of one of them. He was also pushing for more nightlife back in 2017, a move I had supported.
BEST’s success in Andheri resulted in auto-rickshaws crying foul. BEST officials estimate that with an average of 12 trips a day per bus, it has affected nearly 5,292 auto rides per day. Of course, naysayers will be present. One expert questioned why BEST decided to send in such a large contingent to Andheri. The answer to that is simple: Trial and Error.
Why did BEST suddenly go on this path? They had after all cancelled all its AC routes after half a year of trying out happy hours and discounted fares, which did seem to be working. But they had burnt their fingers too much. The existing fleet of Purple Faeries had to be converted to a non-AC fleet, now mostly seen in SoBo.
It all began with former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appointing IAS officer Praveen Pardeshi as the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai. After a six day-strike in December 2018-January 2019, and mounting losses of ₹1,000 crore, Pardeshi overrided BEST’s autonomy and provided a grant of ₹2,000 that allowed the undertaking to stand on its feet again.
Now, keeping these experiments in mind, BEST has altered some routes. As states earlier, A-221 now travels to Natasha Towers. A-249 has an additional stop at Dhake Colony. A-251 unfortunately travels only between Versova-Yari Road and Seven Bungalows while A-242 seems cancelled. A-257 is a ring route that goes from Andheri Station to JVPD Circle via JP Road and Link Road but then turns onto Gulmohar Road before reaching the station via Juhu Gali (CD Barfiwala Marg).
BEST has since launched a plethora of routes in SoBo as well. (Ignore the date, it should read 2020 instead of 2019.) Buses from Churchgate and CSMT to Ballard Pier, the Gateway of India, and Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk (Museum). The Buses are A-122, A-111, A-112 and A-101. BEST has also cancelled A-54 and A-55 due to low patronage.
🚍नवीन वातानुकुलीत बस मार्ग🚍 बस मार्ग ए -११२ व ए -१२२ चर्चगेट ( अहिल्याबाई होळकर चौक) वरून आणि बस मार्ग ए-१०१ व ए -१११ छत्रपती शिवाजी महाराज टरमिनस येथून आजपासून आरंभ मुंबईची बेस्ट: स्वस्त , जलद व आरामदायी बससेवा#bestupdates#csmt#churchgatepic.twitter.com/1Uh024y7Rh
While this fleet is based on diesel buses, BEST runs A-167 from Comrade P K Kurne Chowk in Worli to Prabhadevi Station (West), A-352 from Rani Lakshmi Chowk (Sion Circle) to Trombay, A-302 from Rani Lakshmi Chowk to Maharana Pratap Chowk/Mulund Check Naka Bus Station using the Olectra Midi-bus fleet that are electric buses.
Now, BEST will also receive a batch of 500 midi CNG powered buses from Tata. Ten of them have already made their way to the Mumbai Central Depot.
After BYD's Electric AC Midi Buses and Force's Diesel Mini AC Buses now TATA's CNG MIDI AC Buses will hit the roads.This is one of the 500 Midi CNG Buses for BEST. 10 have already reached Mumbai central depot pic.twitter.com/6VUrM8b6mk
Now, while the reason specified is ‘Administrative’, it doesn’t take a genius to know what’s going on here. If you really must know, look up who all form the current government, then read my first post on BEST’s AC buses followed by this article I had written for OpIndia.
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.
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.
It’s not new that BEST is in serious hot water. The Undertaking has for long been in dire straits, going so far as to allow full body advertisements on every bus in the fleet to canceling all AC buses. But what is the reason? Lack of innovation? Yes.
The oldest transco in India has been unable to keep up with the times, forcing it into this situation. Why?
Simple. The lack of innovation due to toxic competition, with toxic being the key word. You’ll soon realise why it’s important.
BEST is an autonomous agency of the MCGM. Thus, the MCGM isn’t liable to bail out BEST if it ever needs to. Other transcos, such as DTC, MTC, BMTC, NMMT, PMPML, all get bailed out by their municipal bodies/state governments.
Further, due to BEST’s core competition being NMMT and TMT, both of which are sarkari bodies, innovation won’t happen.
Ever sat in a 505Ltd at the Vashi Toll Naka wondering when the bus would cross?
Recently, word spread that people would not have to pay if they waited for longer than two minutes and 50 seconds in the queue at a toll plaza. While the original report stating this was later on rectified, stating that the three minute window was valid at the counter only and that too only in the state of Punjab, it did leave a lot of people wondering – How much longer do we have to wait to cross this toll plaza?
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) did clarify back in April that there was no provision for exemption from toll due to time delays.
Please do not pay attention to rumors – There is no provision for exemption on account of delay at the toll plaza.
In 2015, it was reported that delays at toll plazas cost the country Rs 60,000 crore a year in terms of productivity.
So, how do we fix this problem?
The first of them is ostensibly, the FASTag. As I had mentioned earlier, FASTag could solve nearly all the problems caused due to time delays at toll plazas. However, the issue is that it would solve nearly all the problems and not all of them.
Delays due to non FASTag users as well as the large queue of vehicles before reaching the counter need to be tackled, albeit separately.
Round fares
Toll rates need to be rounded off to the nearest multiple of Rs 10. Some toll plazas, such as the Thoppur toll plaza in Tamil Nadu are notorious for having fares such as Rs 83 or Rs 292 which cause delays due to returning change. When change is not available, operators resort to giving toffees to the driver. Rounded fares would make it easier and more efficient to pay and will plug revenue leaks. It also reduces the time taken to pull out change, count it and hand it back.
Exact Change Lanes
The exact change lane, pioneered by the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey is an automated lane where the user has to pay the exact amount. The system uses a basket where coins are thrown in by users and then mechanically counted by a machine. A photograph of the vehicle and its registration is also taken and the gates open. While the exact same method cannot be replicated in India – toll rates on the Parkway don’t cross $1.50 – a system that accepts notes, similar to those seen at Metro stations can be replicated. The only possible issue that could arise out of this is the damage to the machines. We have all seen how dysfunctional touch-screen machines and ATMs across the country get because people are not too sure how to use it.
Lane Discipline
The lack of lane discipline is undoubtedly the largest cause of delays at toll plazas. Impatient drivers cut lanes and try to fit themselves between two cars when they see another lane moving faster. Often, a driver might see an empty gap between two lanes and drive into that gap, followed by others, thus creating a new lane where none existed. At the toll plaza itself, when it becomes clear that no lane existed there, they then force themselves into existing lanes. Since the level of impatience is common across both lanes, nobody allows another to join in, thus resulting in more delays.
While enforcing lane discipline is the duty of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) while issuing driving licences and the traffic police, these are long term changes. At the toll plaza, different approaches need to be made to enforce lane discipline. In order to solve lane discipline, physical changes need to be made.
Lane separators
Lanes at toll plazas need physical barriers separating them from one another. These barriers which are usually not very long need to be at least 100 metres long so to prevent lane switching and ensuring smoother flow. Further, they need to be removable so that in case a lane shuts down due to a technical glitch, they can be shifted to another lane.
Reversible lanes
The concept of reversible lanes has been in use in India, most notably at the two toll plazas along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Reversible lanes refer to lanes that can be used in either direction. At toll plazas, depending on the volume of traffic per direction, certain lanes on the side with lesser traffic can be “reversed” and the side with more traffic. Therefore, depending on the volume of traffic, lanes can be reversed accordingly and more vehicles can be accommodated in the same space.
Staggered toll plazas
Another concept that has slowly seen implementation in India, at several locations, staggered toll plazas are toll plazas where some lanes in the same direction cross the main toll plaza and then have a separate set of counters of their own.
(can insert a Google map screeny here)
This system was referred to by Ralph E Gomory as the addition of lanes ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ of a toll plaza and has been use in New York City where it was reported to have reduced congestion.
Reducing delays at toll plazas can greatly reduce travel times, increase productivity and ensure faster shipment of goods and services across the country. It just remains to be seen if government agencies and concessionaires are willing to go the extra mile and implement some measures to reduce the waiting time at toll plazas. Toll plazas cannot be eliminated, but the delays can be.
Now for buses: The only time I’ve seen government buses use any non-cash form of payment is on the AC Express series on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Otherwise, while they are generally exempted in several areas such as the MEP toll plazas, they still have to stand in line.
The solution is simple. Get FASTag. Enforce FASTag lanes. That way, these buses won’t have to stand with the rest of the vehicles and can go through without any hiccups. All state-owned buses too should get them. It would make things a lot easier, wouldn’t it?
