I am really very impressed with the way in this entire organisation of BEST is run and managed. Being a Government undertaking I think this is BEST transport facility available in the city which ferries lakhs of commuters from one part of the city to the other.
We the people of Mumbai do get upset with the way the drivers drive or attitude of the conductors, but spare a thought on the following:
The Drivers of BEST drive through most difficult small and narrow lanes of Mumbai.
The pollution on the roads does not make them feel any good.
BEST does not pay the drivers so well.
Traffic especially during peak hours is very bad.
Roads are horrible specially during monsoon.
After all the above their attitude is quite understandable.
The conductors are usually good but often get aggitated by the crowd and the working conditions in the bus.
The fleet of buses BEST has is something to be proud about. The buses are usually clean specially compared to the other states in India. The journeys are bit bumpy because of the roads and not because of the buses. The buses specially the EURO buses, non polluting buses, A/C buses are just out of this world.
The organisation is very professional is very well managed. I would like to share two of my experiences with you all:
BEST had introduced a bus route No. 401 which runs between Ghatkopar Railway Police colony and Ghatkopar Station. This is a short distance bus with a minimum fare of Rs. 3/- from the first to the last stop. When this bus was introduced, for some days I notice one official of BEST travelling in each and every trip of the bus. Out of sheer curiousity I asked the official, ’’Who is he and why is he travelling in every trip?’’ He said he had to submit a report on the whether the performance of the route from the station to the police colony was profitable or not and also which are the peak hours (to ply more buses) and the lean hours (to ply lesser number of buses). This reply really impressed the kind of market research BEST was doing.
Also I quite regularly travel by A-4, bus from Ghatkopar depot to Hutatma Chowk. When first introduced, it used to reach Hutatma Chowk via Worli, and then when they realised that more people would take this bus if they ply the bus Dadar, Parel, Byculla......., they changed the route. Is this not impressive?
I think BEST is the most underrated public service in Mumbai. I don’t think many with disagree with me terming BEST as the ’’DARK HORSE OF MUMBAI’’.
Regards
Vijay