Mumbai BEST Service

Mumbai BEST Service is the oldest bus transportation corporation in India. Established in 1873, the enterprise is a public undertaking operating under Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Seeing the importance of BEST in Mumbai, it is said that the city inhales and exhales through the BEST bus services. At present, Mumbai BEST Service operates 3380 buses carrying 45 lakhs passengers each day on 335 routes. On social and religious occasions special transport arrangements are made to run extra buses. BEST also pays usual attention to operate extra buses to help the stranded passengers on account of dislocation of Railways, heavy rains and any such exigency. On Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, the undertaking operates extra buses to cater for the excursion traffic at diverse recreation and picnic points. Mumbai BEST has been striving to ease the journey of lady passengers by introducing Ladies First buses at various points where the ladies are given priority while boarding the bus at the starting point. To avoid congestion in the Mumbai Metropolis, BEST has introduced Vestibule buses, which have the capacity to carry 110 passengers each. Keeping in mind the burgeoning issue of pollution BEST buses run on Compressed Natural Gas. Taking care of the people friendly approach Mumbai BEST is imparting training to its staff on such relevant topics as fuel conservation, safety measures, behavior with the public etc. The accidentprevention wing of the BEST has an accident prevention van with safety slogans and equipped with instructive audio-visual programs.
Public Bus Service (BEST): This system is run by a government organization "Bombay Electric Supply & Transport". It has a fleet of red single and double-decker buses. There are newly introduced air conditioned buses as well.

The Bombay Tramway Company Limited was formally set up in 1873. The Mumbai Municipality was given the right to buy up the concern after the first 25 years or after every period of 7 years thereafter. After this contract was entered into between the Bombay Tramway Company and the Municipality, the Government of Mumbai enacted the Bombay Tramways Act, 1874, under which the Company was licensed to run a tramway service in the city. The tram-cars were of two kinds-those drawn by one horse and those drawn by two. In 1905, a newly formed concern, The Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company Limited bought the Bombay Tramway Company and the first electrically operated tram-car appeared on Mumbais roads in 1907. The passing years aggravated the problem of rush-hour traffic and to ease the situation, double deckerS trams were introduced in September, 1920. Mumbai saw its first bus run on 15th July, 1926. The people of Mumbai received the bus with enthusiasm, but it took quite sometime before this means of conveyance really established itself. For several years, it was looked upon as transport for the upper middle classes. Those were the days when the tram was the poor mans transport, carried one all the way from Sassoon Dock to Dadar for a mere anna and a half, that was nine paise. The bus fare for the same journey was four annas, that is 25 paise.

In response to the pleas made by the Government and the Brihan Mumbai Mahanagarpalika, the Company extended its services to the northern part of the city in 1934. Double deck buses were introduced in 1937 in order to cope better with the growing traffic. The first Limited Bus service in Mumbai, and probably the first in the country as well, started running in 1940 between Colaba and Mahim. Pursuant to the option given to it under the Deed of Concession granted to the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways Co.Ltd, the Brihan Mumbai Mahanagarpalika acquired on 7th August,1947, the assets of the combined Undertaking, namely the operation of tramways and distribution of electricity in the city of Mumbai as a going concern. By mutual agreement, the Corporation also took over the operation of the bus services, which was run by the B.E.S & T Company Ltd. Thus, the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Company was municipalised and came to be known as Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking . The Undertaking has completed 50 years of its municipalisation on 7th August, 1997. The city of Mumbai has grown from a small trading center 50 years ago to be rightly called the first commercial capital of India. In almost all spheres of human activity. Mumbai has so many firsts to its credit. Likewise the Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking, popularly known as BEST has scored many firsts in the country's life and established many records. The intricacies of Mumbais transport system can easily baffle any new comer from the countryside. To use a figure of speech, the city inhales and exhales through the BEST bus services. The changeover from horsedriven trams to buses has been spectacular. When the Corporation took over the Company in 1947, there were 242 buses in operation on 23 routes and these buses carried 2.38 lakh passengers per day. At present, there are 3380 buses carrying 45 lakhs passengers daily on 335 routes. Special transport arrangements are made and extra buses under various Action Plans are operated during the year on various social/ religious occasions. The Undertakings also pays special attention to operate extra buses to clear the stranded passenger traffic on account of dislocation of Railways, heavy rains and similar such events. The Undertaking also operates extra buses on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays to clear the excursion traffic at various picnic points. The undertaking has been endeavouring to ease the journey of lady passengers, particularly working women by introducing Ladies First buses at various points where the ladies are given priority while boarding the bus at the starting point. Faster clearance of traffic in the megapolis of Mumbai with less number of vehicles has been receiving attention for sometime. It is with this background that the Undertaking has introduced Vestibule buses as a part of its fleet on the eve of Golden Jubilee. Since these buses carry about 110 passengers each, they clear the passenger traffic faster, particularly during the peak hours.

The undertaking has been fully conscious of the alarming levels of pollution in cities. With modern and reliable technology, the Undertaking has been making constant efforts not only to keep pollution level under control, but minimise it. Keeping this view in mind, the Undertaking has introduced CNG buses, i.e. buses run on Compressed Natural Gas in the Golden Jubilee year. CNG run buses being almost pollution free as compared to the Diesel run buses, their introduction on Mumbai roads has proved to be a boon in the realm of Public Transport. The Undertaking has a well-equipped Training Center for the traffic staff and designed program to re-educate them on such relevant topics as fuel conservation, safety measures, behaviour with the public etc. Training is also imparted in Refresher Courses to improve driving habits of the drivers under which officers check the habits of drivers constantly and as a result of which there is a great reduction in accidents. In the Refresher Courses, the stress is on an image revamp from a mere BEST employee to a concerned individual who cares for passenger comfort. The accident-prevention wing of the BEST has an accident prevention van with safety slogans and equipped with instructive audiovisual programs. As regards BESTs electric supply side, in the year 1905, the B.E.S.& T Co.Ltd., commenced the supply of electrical energy by erecting its own generating station with a total capacity of 4,300 KW. This was later abandoned in favour of a station of larger capacity constructed in 1912 at Kussara Basin. This station was closed down in 1925, after which all the Companys requirements were obtained in bulk from M/s. Tata Hydro Electric Power Supply Co.Ltd, With the growth of the electrical distribution system, difficulties were experienced in the maintenance of the electrical pressure within the prescribed statutory limits. The Company than decided to establish two High Voltage Receiving Stations at Grant Road, and Apollo where large bulk supply transformers provided with on-load tap changing equipment had to be installed for maintaining regulated voltage at the consumers premises. These two new stations were, however, actually commissioned in 1949, i.e. after the B.E.S. & T Co.Ltd., was acquired by the Municipal Corporation. In 1947, the Undertaking supplied electricity to 1,08,241 consumers through 247 sub stations. Today, it caters to 8,20,000 consumers through 1,773 substations. Street lamps in those days numbered 2,215 between Colaba to Mahim and Sion. Today, it provides electricity on streets through 34,764 street lamps. It is a well-known fact that the municipal limits of Mumbai were extended from time to time to cover more and more suburban areas and the BEST had to expand its bus services to cater to the entire municipal area. However, the electricity supply of BEST was restricted to the old city area which is equal to about 75 sq.kms.Nevertheless, BEST has been endeavouring to give its services to the electric consumers by way of guaranteed electric supply. The consumers are so used to the service that even an interruption of a few minutes is resented by them. The supply is restored within the shortest possible time as the BEST is well-equipped with latest fault-locating and testing instruments and highly skilled staff.

The Undertaking has always been foremost in adopting technical innovations in its day to day functions. One such project is that of digitisation of records of underground cables. The Undertaking has planned a digitization project where the land base and data of underground cable network, equipments, substations and loads would be digitized. This would be of immense help not only in the location of cable faults which would reduce interruption time, but also computer-aided design of electricity distribution system with minimum distribution losses. Under this programme, it is proposed to digitize 5,000 kms., cable network of BEST. Presently, 800 city survey maps are updated manually to incorporate the changes regarding cable services, joints etc. This will be computerized totally which will help to get underground and overground information at any point in the area of supply easily. Another important scheme is of electronic meters. There are about 9 lakh meters, most of which are electro-magnetic type. However, in view of the errors in such meters and corresponding loss in the revenue, they are being replaced in phases by electronic meters which are more accurate. The Undertaking has also undertaken schemes to computerize the Consumers and Commercial departments of the Electric Supply Division and to decentralize most of the consumer/commercial services at all levels. These schemes will prove to be a boon for the consumers who will be able to solve most of the problems in connection with the grant of new connection, additional load, redressal of other grievances in regard to high bills, change of name etc; through a single window redressal system. This is another important step in the Undertakings march towards ever improving heights of excellence. No urban transport service can hope to escape problems, they keep on cropping up all the time. And they have to be tackled ! Else the press and the citizens will not leave you in peace. Knowing this fully well, the BEST undertaking took charge of the bus and tram transport in the city in 1947, and it soon ran into a whole lot of problems. There was a big spurt in the number of new industries; refugees poured in. The Regional Transport Authority invited the Undertaking to run the bus transport in the suburban area-and that at a twentyfour hours notice. Innumerable housing colonies had sprung up, all over the suburbs, the Government Colony at Bandra (East), the Dhake Colony on the Andheri-Versova Road, the Malvani Colony on the Malad Marve Road, the Nehru Nagar at Kurla, the Tagore Nagar and the Kannamwar Nagar at Vikhroli, the S.G. Barve Nagar at Ghatkopar and the Sardar Nagar near Antop Hill. Actually, Mumbai had started changing in a big way since World War II. Its population in 1941 was about 14 lakhs; in the next ten years it shot up to 28 lakhs; the next ten years took it to 41 lakhs, and in 1970 it was 56 lakhs. This population explosion, as far as the city was concerned, was most unexpected. Oblong in shape, Mumbai has most of its Government, professional and commercial centres of work concentrated in its southern part. This sets a peculiar traffic pattern : The rush is north-south in the mornings, and in the reverse direction in the evenings.

Mumbai has thus changed a great deal from what it was about fifty years ago. But the changes, and the difficulties of adjustment that changes usually bring, did not come suddenly. They were spread over the years. In its early years the Undertaking tried ad-hoc solution to every problem that cropped up. The available buses were re-allocated amongst the various routes, according to the pressure of traffic. The seating arrangement in the buses was altered to squeeze in a few more passengers. The procedure for repairing the buses was streamlined so as to reduce the number of buses on sick list, and more buses were acquired. But the Undertaking also gave a thought to long-term measures like getting a scientific survey of the bus-routes made with the help of a computer, or getting experts to study the possibilities of using alternative means of transport like underground railway, mono rail, water-bus or mini-bus. These fifty years the Undertaking has been conscientiously trying to plan for and provide as efficient a service as it can. It discovered that a short-term measure can only bring a temporary cure. Every increase in the pressure of traffic rendered such measures futile. But the experience was not futile. It strengthened the Undertakings resolve to pursue its problems to their roots, and also to equip itself for the task. And thus we have a much improved bus service - and the people appreciate it ! THE GROWING FLEET The Undertaking applied itself to improving its service in many of its aspects, but the prime need was for increasing the number of buses. Since its inception in August 1947, the Undertaking has been making a well-planned effort to meet the need. Every year brought new vehicles. In 1947, 242 vehicles were on the roads. In ten years the number swelled to 582. A double-decker bus was more suitable than a single-decker one, for occupying no more road space than the latter and with only one driver, it carried one and a half times as many passengers. In the early days of the Undertaking a pressing need was increase the carrying capacity of the buses. The standee bus system introduced in 1955 was one attempt in that direction. It was restricted in the beginning to vehicles of a particular type. In thse buses, ten standees were allowed in the city, and seven in the suburbs. In 1958, the permission was extended to some double-decker buses; these were allowed to take eight standees. ALL STANDEES BUS Another innovation came in 1967 : the "all standee" bus. It has only a few seats, the rest of the space being for straphanging passengers. These buses were put on short routes. It was hoped that they would reduce the period of waiting in the queue for the passengers. But the passengers were not impressed. Finally, in 1970, the buses had to be withdrawn. ARTICULATED BUS 1967 saw yet another type of bus put on the roads : the articulated bus. There were ten of them. The Undertaking was the first transport organisation in the country to use such a

bus. The engine was separate from the bus in this vehicle, and the two were joined together. The vehicle was of entirely Indian make, with the Ashok Leyland of Madras manufacturing the tractor-engine, and Mahindra Owen of Poona building the bus part of it. TROLLEY BUS In the days of the B.E.S.T. Company, the proposal to run trolley buses was seriously considered. The Undertaking too gave a thought to it. Its tramcars had been ageing fast. Could a convenient substitute be found? So it decided to go in for trolley-buses. Twelve such vehicles were imported, and they replaced the tramcars on the Gowalia TankMazgaon route on 11th June 1962. Somehow, the service did not do well. The trolley buses would go out of order again and again. They were finally withdrawn on 24th March 1971 in favour of ordinary buses. One reason for the failure of the service was that as it passed along very congested roads its speed had to be kept much below its maximum; and the trolley-bus had to run at a good speed in order to be profitable, as experience showed. As such speed is impracticable on any of the old tram-routes, it seems very unlikely that trolley-buses will be tried again in the city. COACH SERVICE The undertaking had eight luxury coaches, and they were open to hire at three rupees per mile, but the demand for them was very limited. Therefore, to put them to profitable use, the Undertaking started a Coach Service in 1966. The service operated every day between Electric House and Sion, and between Dadar and Juhu on Sundays and holidays. There was a special fare for this service : 8 paise per kilometer. Once the novelty of riding in a luxury coach wore out, the higher fares tended to discourage passengers from using it, unless they had no time to wait for the regular service bus. The service lasted for hardly a year. With more limited services introduced on the SionFort route, the Coach Service was patronised even less. The income from the service started dwindling, while the operating costs kept rising. Finally, in June 1967, it was discontinued. MINI BUS The idea of using mini-buses was first mooted in March 1969. The vehicle was to be something between a taxi and a bus, and it was to be used for short runs. According to the initial scheme, for a flat charge of 30 paise, mini-buses were to ply on the following routes : Strand Cinema to Nagar Chowk (Bori Bunder) or Ballard Estate or Churchgate; Colaba Bus Station to Churchgate; Museum to Mahatma Phule Market (Crawford Market); and Pydhoni to Dhobi Talao. In addition to using the bus stops, the mini-buses were to set down or pick up passengers on request. The driver was also to act as the conductor. It was intended to use station wagons for this service.

A year before the proposal started taking shape, some public bodies approached the Undertaking with the request that it start a mini-bus service on certain routes as between the Ghatkopar Railway Station and the S.G. Barve Nagar, for example. The demand for mini-buses kept growing. Meanwhile, all the aspects of the proposal were under scrutiny. Two points were newly stressed : (1) Some of the undeveloped areas in the suburbs have narrow and Kutcha roads, which cannot take ordinary buses. Minibuses would be particularly useful in such areas. (2) Mini-buses could be used to provide direct and speedy transport between the suburbs and the central parts of the city. BUS TRANSPORT IN SUBURBS The Bandra Bus Company used to run the bus service in the Western suburbs. As the Company refused to comply with the Regional Transport Authoritys order that only the main road in those suburbs should be used for the service, the Authority requested the B.E.S.T. Undertaking to take it over immediately. That was on 30th September, 1949. The request was more of a challenge - for it meant assuming the responsibility of providing transport for 50,000 passengers at twenty-four hours notice. The undertaking accepted the challenge. And on 1st October 1949, B.E.S.T. buses started plying in the western suburbs. Twenty-six buses were spared for the service, which was hailed by the residents of the suburbs as a boon. The Undertaking was overwhelmed with expressions of praise and gratitude. The Undertaking bought eleven of the buses the Bandra Bus Company had been using. The Undertaking also took over the employees of the old company. The old fare, in the suburbs, was 12 pies per mile; the Undertaking changed it to 9 pies per mile, which had been its fare for the city. In January 1955, the Undertaking launched its bus service in the eastern suburbs. Thus it came to serve the entire suburban area, carrying nine lakhs of passengers every day. This was about the same as the number of suburban passengers using the two railways. However, the eastern suburbs had some private bus services still plying. The Undertaking asked for their closure. The matter dragged on in a court of law for four years. The verdict, given in February 1959, was for the closure of the private services. The Undertaking applied to the Regional Transport Authority for permission to extend its bus service to the areas newly included in Greater Bombay - that is up to Mulund in the east and Dahisar in the west. Meanwhile the operators of private buses had moved the High Court for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. On the High Court turning down their plea, the Authority granted the necessary permission to the Undertaking, from 1st December 1960. INCENTIVE BONUS SCHEME FOR THE EMPLOYEES To provide the passengers with a comfortable bus service needs a sufficient number of vehicles. The Undertaking has always been trying to achieve such sufficiency. But then

what does sufficient mean? You cannot define it. The vehicles are just one factor in a bus transport system. There are others like the conductors, the drivers, the maintenance staff and the repairs staff in the workshops. If all these employees are not up to the mark, no increase in the number of buses is going to make it sufficient. So much depends on the proportion of vehicles stabled for repairs. Similarly, the efficiency of the service depends a good deal on the conductor and the driver not unnecessarily holding up the movement of their vehicle, the conductor issuing tickets promptly, and taking care to avoid altercation with the passengers. Efforts to secure such efficiency have to be made methodically. Some efforts made by the Undertaking in this direction in the beginning were as follows : (1) The system of granting an efficiency bonus of Rs.25 every quarter was started in 1951. It applied to both the conductors and the drivers. To be eligible for the bonus, the employed had to attain a certain level in attendance and in efficiency. (2) Absenteeism among employees is epidemic in the March June period. For lack of conductors and drivers, the usual number of buses cannot go out on the roads. A special bonus scheme had therefore been instituted for this period, to dissaude them from going on leave. (3) A scheme called Model Unit was started in 1961. To find out the defects in the maintenance of vehicles, and to decide on the remedies for them, fifty vehicles of the same make were grouped together, and their maintenance was to be carried out according to the methods and time-table laid down by the manufacturers. On the basis of this, a model maintenance system was to be finalised, and then aplied to all the vehicles of that make. To operate the scheme, fifty double-decker buses of Leyland Titan make were grouped together in the Central Depot. Similar groups were made in the other depots, one by one. Selected drivers were put on these vehicles. (4) Sometimes it is minor defect which puts a bus out of action. In order that such a bus should not get stuck on the road for long, mechanics were stationed specially for the job at some of the starters chowkies at the important termini. To deal with major defects there is a Breakdown Lorry or Van. The van goes to the ailing bus, and sets it right as quickly as possible. (5) The schemes like bus running control, the wireless van, etc. were in operation. The wireless van is a special feature. It does important jobs like reporting breakdowns of vehicles to the staff concerned or asking for extra buses at points where there are inordinately long queues of passengers. These schemes were definitely instrumental in increasing efficiency. And yet they seemed to fall short of the requirements.

There were not enough vehicles. The proportion of absentees came down, but even then it was large enough to affect the working. Would the recruitment of women conductors bring about an improvement in the attendance? This was considered in 1951. Then there were the sick vehicles. Although their proportion was gradually coming down, it was still considerably higher than in the bus systems in cities like London, New York and Tokyo. There was much scope for improvement in the maintenance of vehicles. The rainy season brought in its wake a flood of complaints about leaking roofs and windows that got stuck. The population of the city kept growing. It was a trying situation, and it called for more throughgoing and fundamental improvement. "The Incentive Bonus Scheme for Bus Transport instituted in April 1967 proved quite effective in combating some of the troubles mentioned above. BONUS SCHEME FOR CONDUCTORS Under this scheme, a conductor was to be granted a bonus for extra work. The fare collected by him during the month was taken as his work. Some of the immediate benefits of the scheme were as follows : (1) The number of complaints received from passengers dropped from 600 to 400 per month. (2) The Undertaking could cope with the traffic without increasing the number of buses. (3) Passengers had to wait for a shorter time in queues. (4) The proportion of absentees among conductors came down. New Incentive Bonus Scheme Like the conductors, the three categories of staff namely Bus Drivers, Workers in the Traffic and Engineering Departments and the Maintenance Staff are important in a bustransport system achieving maximum efficiency. But, in their case, the efficiency is not of an individual; it is the result of the co-operative effort of workers from each of the three categories. Such joint effort enables a bus to run smoothly and punctually. This scheme was designed to keep more buses running - that is, to reduce the number of sick buses. In 1969, this scheme brought down the percentage of sick vehicles by 2 to 3 per cent which meant 100 vehicles more on the road. In that year about 4,000 drivers, 200 of the traffic supervisory staff and 2,000 maintenance workers joined the scheme. The workshops too came under a similar scheme from 1st October 1969. The measure of efficiency in this case was the number of vehicles lying idle in the workshop waiting for repairs. This scheme too had proved effective, the percentage of vehicles under repairs dropping. MORE FACILITIES FOR JOURNIES BY BUS You have read of the various schemes operated by the Undertaking to augment the efficiency of its transport service. Simultaneously, more facilities, besides the daily bus service, were being made available. Since the days of the B.E.S.T. Company, schools and

private parties had been hiring out buses, and the practice continued. Some facilities tried out by the Undertaking were given up after a while as unworkable. The Luxury Coach Service was one of these. It was started in August 1955. The coach was fitted up with all manner of conveniences like Dunlopillo cushions for the seats, adjustable backs, a reading light for each seat, and fans. The coach was mainly meant for the use of foreign tourists. They were taken round in the coach on a guided tour of the city. Accompanying them was a guide to tell them about the important places. As the Coach Service failed to get sufficient response, it was closed down in 1971. There was a Sunday Excursion, specially meant for visitors to the city. The bus left from the Taj Mahal Hotel every Sunday morning, and stopped at Hanging Gardens, the Juhu Beach, the Aarey Colony, the Powai Lake, Ghatkopar and Chembur, before returning to the Taj Mahal Hotel in the evening. In 1961, the "Travel-As-You-Like-Ticket" was introduced. Rs.1.50 was the price for adults, and 75 paise for children. It was issued for Sundays and Holidays only. This ticket entitled the holder to travel anywhere in the city and the suburbs. But as it was found that the facility was misused, the Undertaking abolished it in 1967. DEPOTS AND BUS STATIONS The undertaking had to build more and more depots and bus stations at suitable places in the city and in the suburbs as its bus service went on expanding. In a depot, a vehicle is cleaned up, its machine is oiled, and minor repairs are done. For major overhaul, of course, the vehicle has to be sent to the workshop. During the last fifty years bus depots came up, one by one, as under : (1) Bombay Central, 1950; (2) Santacruz, 1950; (3) Kurla, 1955; (4) Tardeo, 1960; (5) Wadala, 1961; (6) Worli, 1961; (7) Poisar, 1966; (8) Marol, 1968; (9) Deonar, 1969; (10) Vikhroli, 1972; (11) Ghatkopar, 1974; (12) Backbay, 1976; (13) Goregaon, 1978; (14) Bandra, 1980; (15) Dharavi, 1980; (16) Dindoshi, 1985; (17) Anik, 1988; (18) Oshiwara, 1990; (19) Malwani, 1991; (20) Magathane, 1992; (21) Govandi, 1992; (22) Kalakilla, 1993; (23) Majas, 1995; (24) Gorai, 1996 and (25) Pratiksha Nagar, 1996. FERRY SERVICE The BEST Undertaking started a ferry service at Manori in 1981. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation entrusted the running of the service to the Undertaking acknowledging its excellent bus service, as it were. The Undertaking has justified the trust placed in it by making a success of the Marve-Manori ferry service. BUS FARES Even after the B.E.S.T. Company was taken over by the Municipal Corporation, the bus fares continued unchanged till 31st March, 1951. For the city the fares were telescopic, that is, as the distance increased the fare per mile came down. For the suburbs, the fare

was flat, that is, it remained the same whatever the distane. For one anna you could go a mile and a half in the city, but only one mile in the suburbs. Then came the changes in the fare-structures. From April 1951, bus travel in the city became even cheaper, with the basic fare of one anna taking you a mile and three quarters. However, the fractional fares, like 1.1/2 anna or 2.1/2 annas and 3.1/2 annas, for the fare stages were rounded off to the full anna. In the suburbs too the fare was brought down from one anna per mile to nine pies, that is three quarters of anna. The disparity in the fares for the city and the suburbs was brought to an end in October 1955. The suburbs naturally profited from this. For an anna you could now travel a mile and three quarters, instead of a mile and a quarter. But the fractional fares were restored. In 1959, with decimal coinage coming into force, except for the 7 paise fare for the first stage, all the fares were multiples of five, that is, 10, 15, 20 and so on. These came into effect from 15th January 1959. From 21st April 1963, the minimum fare was raised from 7 paise to 10 paise. The Undertaking revised its bus fares from time to time strictly according to the provision made under Govt. notification. The details of revised bus fares from 1963 onwards are given below :

Fare Revised w.e.f. 21-04-1963 07-11-1966 28-05-1974 23-12-1975 21-08-1980 23-03-1981 01-04-1982 01-06-1984 14-09-1984 01-04-1987 22-06-1989 04-05-1990 16-11-1990 08-01-1991 15-05-1992 11-05-1994 06-08-1996

Ordinary Ps. Kms. 10 3.6 10 2.0 15 2.0 20 3.0 25 3.0 30 3.0 40 3.0 40 2.0 50 6.0 50 4.0 50 2.0 70 4.0 95 3.0 95 3.0 95 2.5 140 2.5 140 2.0

Limited Ps. Kms. 15 5.5 15 2.0 20 2.0 25 2.0 30 2.0 35 2.0 50 2.0 50 2.0 50 2.0 50 2.0 65 2.0 95 4.0 95 2.0 95 2.0 120 2.5 165 2.5 165 2.0

10-08-1996

190

2.5

235

2.5

The nutrition surcharge is 10 paise on ticket upto Rs.2/- & 15 paise on tickets above two w.e.f. 1.4.1994. Every day the Undertakings buses run about 6.51 lakh km. and carry about 47 lakh passengers. These figures are an index of the vastness of the transport system. It would be wrong to expect that everything will run smoothly in such an organization. Troubles have to be taken for granted; difficulties will arise. The organization has to take them in its stride. A trivial incident touches off a lightning strike. There is hectic running about. The complaint is traced to a misunderstanding. It is set right, and normal working is resumed. In 1950, the Undertaking had a serious problem to face. Conductors in those days carried a ticket-issuing machine, specially designed to print and produce a ticket of the required denomination at the turning of a handle. The machine recorded the amount automatically. At the end of his day, the conductor had to pay in the days takings as recorded. This sounds smooth and foolproof. But some conductors, who were obviously anything but foolish, found a way of so manipulating the machine as to make it record less than the amount collected. How much the Undertaking was fleeced of was anybodys guess. However, the moment the trick was discovered, the Undertaking took swift action, and in twenty-four hours the ticket-issuing machine with every conductor was replaced with a ticket-box. These are internal troubles; not all of them cause disturbance to the transport service. But external troubles invariably do, and sometimes they can be serious. The dislocation caused by the first heavy showers of the rainy season is almost a matter of habit. The low-lying parts of the city are flooded, and buses have to be diverted. To make it worse, the railway services too are disrupted. That puts further responsibility on the bus service. The buses, of course, do their best, but the best in such circumstances can never be good enough. Then there are the railway accidents, and man-made troubles like strikes, riots and hartals (or bandhs). They put a heavy strain on the bus service, but it has not been found wanting. Strikes and political agitations usually aim, among other things, at disrupting communications. Buses, on such occasions, are exposed to the risk of being damaged; the drivers cabin has to be fitted with wire meshes to protect him from different types of flying missiles. On some of these occasions not many people move out. Should the bus service be suspended then? The Undertaking does not opt for it; it owes a duty to the community. There is always a limit to the number of buses a transport organization can run, and to its efficiency as well, for there is a limit to what the city roads can carry. Other means of conveyance too keep increasing in number. In Mumbai, for instance, in 1951, the number of vehicles, leaving out buses, was 45,000. In 1961 it was 85,000, and in 1971 it reached 1,80,000. Today there are over 6 lakh vehicles on Mumbai roads. The number continues to grow; but over the years the roads have been the same, except for a few additions, and some widening here and there. In such a situation, the vehicles have to move slower and

slower. The average speed of our buses has been falling down. At present it is 12 to 15 km. per hour. In the congested localities it is as low as 6km. per hour. BEST believes that it has a social obligation towards the city where it has grown. As such it is felt essential to provide concession to certain sections of society. A few schemes are listed below. Free Travel Facility: Presently, the BEST provides free travel facility to the freedom fighters. One person accompanying the freedom fighter is also permitted to travel free. Municipal Councilors and Non-Councilor Members of the BEST Committee are also permitted to travel free on BEST buses. Adhoc Members of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, accompanied by his wife and Female Members accompanied by any one viz. husband, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister are allowed to travel free on BEST buses. Police personnel are allowed to travel free on BEST buses against an adhoc payment of compensation towards free travel facility by the Government of Maharashtra. This facility of free travel however is not available on Luxury and AirConditioned services.

Concessional Fare: Children below 12 years of age are charged concessional fare. Student studying upto Higher Secondary and upto the age of 22 years are charged concessional fare. Persons who are 60 % and above, permanently Orthopaedically handicapped are charged concessional fare. Blind persons are charged a flat fare of Re.1/- per journey. Concessional fare facility is not available on Luxury and AirConditioned Services. Public Cash Counters For Distribution of 5 Rupee Coins For the benefit of general public, coins in the denominations of Rs. 5/-, in exchange of notes in the denominations of Rs.50/- or Rs.100. are made available by the Undertaking, at all the Depots. The timings for this are 10.00hrs to 15.00 hrs, on all working days. Special Counters are also opened at the following places for the same:

. Bandra Bus Station (West) . Andheri Bus Station (West) . Agarkar Chowk Bus Station, Andheri (East)
Reservation of Seats: The BEST has reserved 3 seats for handicapped person , 2 seats for Senior Citizens and 6 seats for lady passengers in the Single Decker buses. In the Double Decker buses it has reserved 3 seats each for lady passengers and handicapped persons and 2 seats for Senior Citizens. Front Door Entry: The BEST have permitted physically and mentally handicapped persons, senior citizens, and expectant mothers to board the bus from the front door except at starting point. Passenger Refund Claims: In case the conductor does not have enough change to return the balance of the passenger, he writes on the back of the ticket the amount of balance due and authenticates the same. Such a ticket is treated as a receipt by the BEST. The passenger can claim the balance amount from Ticket & Cash Department, head office at Wadala after producing the ticket. Disaster Management: In the event of disruption of rail services the BEST operates additional buses in the area of disruption. Timely actions are taken with the help of our communication system. Lost Property: The lost property section of the Transport Division is in existence prior to the municipalisation of the BEST Undertaking in the year 1947. Initially the Lost Property section was at Colaba Depot, Transport House and it was subsequently shifted to 2nd floor of Wadala Depot, Administrative Building with effect from 01/02/1980. As per Act 132(4) of Bombay Motor Vehicle Rules 1959 (New rule 122 of Maharshtra Motor Vehicles Rules 1989), the Lost Properties were required to be handed over to the Police Department, However the BEST

Undertaking has been exempted from the provision of rule 132(4), and therefore all such articles are deposited in the Lost Property Section of the Undertaking vide notification issued by Home Department No MVR.1859/69814-XII date 07.10.1959. The working of the Lost Property Section is given below: The articles found by the conductor or any other member of staff in the bus or in the premises of the Undertaking are handed over to the nearest Bus Terminus Starter, who sent it to the concerned Depot. These articles are then forwarded to the Lost Property Section. On receipt of such articles from Depots to Lost Property Section the same are entered in the register maintained for the purpose, after bifurcating them as per their category. Whenever any claimant approaches immediately to the Bus terminus / Bus Chowkey where the article is deposited, then the articles are issued to the claimant by the officer on duty after due verification and taking necessary charges as per the administrative order. The particulars of charges to be recovered as per Administrative Order Number 304 dated 06/02/2003 from claimant are as under:
Registration Charges For Cash and Sundry Articles For Valuable and Semi Valuable Articles For Outside Parties Rs.10/Rs.50/For Employees Rs.5/Rs.25/-

Storage charges are only applicable for cash deposited and collected only after 3 days from the date of lost.
Storage Charges For Cash Deposited Upto Rs.100/For Cash Deposited From Rs.101/- to Rs.500/For Cash Deposited From Rs.501/- to Rs.2000/For Cash Deposited From Rs.2001/- to Rs.5000/For Cash Deposited above Rs.5001/For Outside Parties Rs.3/- Per Day, Maximum Rs.10/12/% of the Cash and Maximum of Rs.60/12/% of the Cash and Maximum of Rs.200/12/% of the Cash and Maximum of Rs.300/12/% of the Cash and Maximum of Rs.750/For Employees 50% concession 50% concession 50% concession 50% concession 50% concession

Whenever any claimant approaches Lost Property Section at Wadala Depot, the articles are issued only after confirming the Identity and genuineness of claimant on verification of residential proof such as ration card, passport, election voting identity card or driving license of the claimant. In case of higher amount or valuable ornaments, the claimant has to obtain No Objection Certificate from concerned police authorities. After verification and receiving necessary charges, articles are handed over to the claimant. Traffic outdoor staff has been strictly prohibited from handing over any Lost Property articles directly to the claimant. However, the concerned Traffic Officers can issue such articles at the Depots after satisfying themselves as to the authenticity of the claimant and charging necessary charges as applicable.

 The cash or valuable articles (Gold or Silver Ornaments) received in the Lost Property Section is kept in the section for one month, and there after deposited at the Undertaking Cash department for safe custody. In case of foreign currency deposited in the Lost Property section the same is deposited with our Cash Department at Dadar for further disposal. Perishable articles such as vegetables, ready food etc is disposed off on the same day at the depots by auction in the presence of Traffic Officers. The other perishable articles such as sugar, tea powder, oil, and talcum powder etc are kept for 10 days in the Lost Property section and then disposed off, by auction in the presence of officers, and auditor. Medicines are kept for one month and then disposed off. Unclaimed lost property articles (Semi valuable, and sundry) are sent to Oshiwara Scrap yard after one month for further disposal by way of auction. A letter of appreciation is issued to the member of staff who deposits lost property articles. If the value of the article deposited is Rs.2000/- or more then the concerned member of staff is recommended for cash reward / appreciation letter to be given on BEST Din.

Conclusions Transport systems are among the various factors affecting the quality of life and safety in a city. The urban transport situation in large cities in India is deteriorating. The deterioration is more prevalent in metropolitan cities where there is an excessive concentration of vehicles. Commuters in these cities are faced with acute road congestion, rising air pollution, and a high level of accident risk. These problems cannot be solved without a concise and cogent urban transport strategy. The main objective of such a strategy should be to provide and promote sustainable high-quality links for people by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the

citys transport systems. Policy should be designed in such a way as to reduce the need to travel by personalized modes and boost the public transport system. At the same time, demand-side as well as supply-side management measures should effectively be used. People should be encouraged to walk and cycle and government should support investments that make cycling and walking safer. Finally, there is a need to empower the Urban Local Bodies to raise finances and coordinate the activities of various agencies involved in the provision of transport infrastructure in urban areas.