05 September,2015 09:05 AM IST | | A correspondent
The taxi strike of September 1 benefited the BEST greatly as the undertaking managed to ferry more than 2 lakh more passengers during the taxi bandh and earned Rs 40 lakh extra through ticket sales on that day
The taxi strike of September 1 benefited the BEST greatly as the undertaking managed to ferry more than 2 lakh more passengers during the taxi bandh and earned Rs 40 lakh extra through ticket sales on that day. Sources in BEST said that with more than 90 percent of the black and yellow cabs plus the 12000 plus private cabs operated by Uber and Ola, off-roads there was ample space for the buses to move.
Also read: Black-and-yellow taxi strike - Mumbaikars turn to trains, buses, radio cabs and car-pooling
Representational picture
People were seen standing in long queues on that day at bus stops. The BEST officials agreed that the buses got good road space and so they could manage to ferry more commuters. On September 1, the BEST ferried 30.27 lakh commuters and earned a revenue of Rs 3.85 crore while the next day (which was also a partial taxi bandh), the BEST earned Rs 3.72 crore revenue and ferried 29.1 lakh passengers.
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On an average, the BEST buses ply close to 28 lakh commuters and earns Rs 3.3 to Rs 3.34 crore daily. The BEST is already planning dedicated bus lanes at 5 locations across the city which they feel, would improve punctuality. During the previous taxi bandh in June the BEST ferried a record 50 lakh pasengers and earned Rs 4.56 crore.
