Staying afloat in this competitive world is rather difficult and BEST is feeling the pinch for some time. BEST buses cater to the needs of people in Mumbai and travelling through the bus should be more comfortable even though it is a bit costly. However, the problem faced by BEST in recent times is manifold and it is a matter of survival of the fittest. Tough competition is faced in transport sector as new mode of transport take up the roads to upgrade outdated and outmodelled BEST bus fleet. The transport undertaking despite increasing the fare could not survive and it profit eroded and at some sectors it is running on loss. Again, other corporations like NMMT in Navi Mumbai, KMT in Kalyan, PMT in Panvel and others are trying hard to compete with BEST once they cross the Mumbai limits. Further, we come across Ola, Meru and other Taxis offering discounts to compete with each other. Generally, Mumbaikars depend on local trains and that is the life line for them. BEST should withdraw some of its fleets and deploy them to more busy sectors. Even lottery scheme on bus tickets can also encourage more people to travel through this dependable transport system. Iconic red buses have place in Mumbai’s history and hope that the corporation will come good by the year end to make up the loss and earn profit by next financial year to upset other mode of transport system.
Abhishek Ramaswamy
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
