If you live in Mumbai, you’ve seen them dart across the city, and they are bringing in game-changing convenience to commuters in the city.

The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking or BEST's new red feeder buses can now be spotted at several stations along the Western Line and Central Line, and for Rs 6 per ticket, and have fast become a favourite with commuters, as they fill the massive gap left behind by public transport services in the city.

Public transport in Mumbai has been synonymous with long-body BEST buses and suburban trains. However, BEST services have been falling out of favour with commuters, as they run parallel to suburban trains and metro routes, thereby losing commuters to longer travel times because of congested roads.

That strategy, BEST felt, needed to be re-thought. So came about the idea to introduce buses to run as shuttle services between popular railway stations and crowded business districts, to complement railway infrastructure, and not compete with it. These are routes untapped by BEST so far because of the dominance of shared taxis and auto-rikshaws.

On the Central Line, the trains operate from CST to Mulund, and on the Western Line from Churchgate, Prabhadevi, Dadar, all the way to Malad. A case in point is the feeder bus service from Lower Parel station to Prabhadevi station which connects the railway station to business parks and office complexes, a route where shared taxis were the dominant means to commute.

These new buses are Pune-based manufacturer Force Motors’ Mini Traveller Smart Citibuses and are supplied to BEST by the company under a wet-leasing model.

This means that the buses are operated by contractors appointed by BEST, who are responsible for the maintenance and running of the vehicles, including supplying a bus operator or driver, while the BEST supplies its routes and its own conductor.

Force Motors told CNBC-TV18 that BEST floated a tender for acquiring the buses in a wet-leasing model as BEST’s internal cost of operation at Rs 125-Rs 130 per kilometre rendered it unviable for BEST to acquire the new buses.

According to company officials, BEST placed an order for 622 buses with Force Motors via three contractors, and while 500 of these units have already been supplied, the remaining 122 will be supplied to BEST over the next 10 days.

Out of the fleet of 500 buses already delivered to BEST, 325 are already functional, while the remaining 175 will be made operational by mid-March. Force Motors is also slated to supply another 400 buses to BEST, as part of another tender, taking the total count of the Smart Citibuses in the BEST fleet to 1,000.

BEST charges a flat fare of Rs 6 for these buses, which operate within a radius of 4-5 kilometre from the railway stations. The buses themselves are conductorless, and BEST officials vend tickets at bus stops. Officials at Force Motors told CNBC-TV18 that ticket validating systems will soon be installed on the doors of the vehicles.

Commuters Hail Feature-Packed Buses

The 28-seater bus (21 sitting spots and 7 standees) come packed with a host of features to make it an ‘intelligent transport system’. The buses come with electronic destination boards, automatic doors and a passenger information system inside the bus, which will soon be activated and come with a voice information system, all controlled by a driver console.

The bus has two surveillance cameras which record 7 days of footage, reversing cameras, mobile charging points, individual AC blowers and hat racks.

Passengers have hailed the convenience of the news buses. "The buses have a good frequency, they stop at a few bus stops and therefore reduce commute time. The better part is it gives cooling in the bus, as salespersons we’re roaming here and there and this is very convenient for us," a commuter at Andheri railway station told CNBC-TV18.

Another commuter added, "It has made commuting very easy for us…now that summers have begun, the air-conditioned buses are a blessing. More importantly, the fares are very cheap, only one rupee more than non-AC basis... In fact, BEST should increase the fare to at least Rs 10 so we get better and maintained service.”

Most importantly, however, these buses are also a game-changer for BEST. The public transport undertaking has been losing a significant number of travellers to autos and shared taxis -- especially because traffic congestion in the city has made buses slower and inefficient. It also opens up routes which could not be covered earlier because of the limitation of road width.

First Published:Feb 27, 2020 7:05 PM IST