Best not at its best,over 100 buses break down every month: officials

More than a hundred Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport undertaking buses break down during their journey every month

More than a hundred Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) undertaking buses break down during their journey every month,said BEST officials. The number was just 45-50 until a few years ago.

“Increasing fleet size by 25 per cent in a city like Mumbai without adequate planned infrastructure support was going to result in some kind of strain,” General Manager O P Gupta said. “We are seriously considering this issue and monitoring it on a daily basis.” he added.

Gupta said the number of buses breaking down every month has reduced since June 2010 from about 135 to about a hundred and should stabilise by next monsoon.

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“I don’t think BEST can reduce the number to 45-50 in the next five years at least,” he said.

An air-conditioned King Long BEST bus broke down on JJ Flyover on Friday morning bringing traffic in the area to a crawl.

“Recently,the Traffic Police has sent a notice to three depots telling them to ensure that buses don’t break down during peak hours and are towed away immediately if they do,” said BEST committee member Ravi Raja

Pointing at data for August and September,Raja said the BEST is losing almost Rs 50 lakh per day due to a lower turnout of buses because of staff absenteeism or vacancies,traffic detention and shortage of engineering equipment.

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