BEST to add 100 buses by April

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) will add around 100 new buses to its fleet by April under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

Although the original plan was to make the purchases by March-end, hitches on the supplier's "� Ashok Leyland's "� end delayed the process. Sources said Ashok Leyland has been penalised with Rs 3.5 crore for the delay in the bus supply.

This is the first time BEST has made purchases in about 15 years. Case in point: BEST has 3,391 buses at present, which is just 11 more than it had in 1991. The target is to take the fleet strength to 3,521 buses by April.

"Under MUTP, we were to get 644 new buses from Ashok Leyland. Till now we have got 457. We hope to get the whole lot by April," said S S Kshatriya, general manager, BEST. Kshatriya added, "BEST is also replacing old buses. And due to constant replacement, the fleet strength never went up."

It may be recalled that Bombay HC had asked BEST to replace 1,282 buses by May 5. "We are just left with 61 more buses to replace. With this purchase we will meet the deadline comfortably," he added.

"We haven't increased fleet strength for a long time. Once we get all the MUTP buses, we will simultaneously complete the replacement as well as the fleet expansion," Kshatriya added. BEST has seen a 7 per cent reduction in the number of passengers, due to an increase in fares affected two years back. "Rise in diesel prices left us with no alternative. We are hopeful that more number of buses will see quality of service improve and also bring in more passengers," he said.