08 April,2017 08:23 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
What has emerged as a matter of concern for the BEST undertaking is the fact that eventhough nearly 30 lakh people avail their bus services daily, they incurred a loss of nearly Rs 595 crore during 2016-17
What has emerged as a matter of concern for the BEST undertaking is the fact that eventhough nearly 30 lakh people avail their bus services daily, they incurred a loss of nearly Rs 595 crore during 2016-17. Of the total 501 routes, only two are the least loss making and fall under Grade A. Apart from this, the undertaking suffers a steep loss on nearly 150 routes, which fall under Grade C.'
BEST officials are thinking of either reducing the length of the Grade C routes or completely doing away with them, as they generate a meager 40 paise or even less for every rupee spent per kilometer. "We will rationalise the bus routes, especially those under Grade C. We are also thinking of changing the timetable and shortening some of them," said Jagdish Patil, General Manager, BEST.
More than 260 air-conditioned buses, which fall under Grade C, are in a shambles. The undertaking incurs a loss of nearly Rs80 crore annually in operating them. Some of the routes that suffer severe losses include numbers 101 (Colaba to Walkeshwar) and 300 (Kandivali station-Thakur Complex-Kandivali station).
Meanwhile, route numbers 340 (Ghatkopar Station to Agarkar Chowk) and 415 (Agarkar Chowk to Majas Depot) are the ones that fall under Grade 'A' and help BEST earn 80-90 paise per kilometer. The remaining routes fall under Grade B, which draws anything between 40-70 paise per kilometer for every rupee spent.