How will BEST conductors check vaccine certificates?

A BEST conductor checks vax certificates at Bhatia Baug, CSMT

IS it possible to check everyone on a BEST bus? Though the bus undertaking has begun checking vaccine certificates of commuters at depots and stations, users called it impractical. Even conductors and staff said that the additional responsibility is quite taxing. As per the latest orders of the Maharashtra government, only fully vaccinated people are allowed to use BEST buses.

Buses have been very crowded. I travelled on two buses today, but no one checked vaccine certificates anywhere," said commuter Anand Mishra.

"I boarded a BEST bus & showed my Universal Pass. And the conductor told me angrily that don't show me all this. My job is to issue tickets, not verify vaccine certificates," wrote popular Twitter account MumbaiMatters.

BEST buses outside Dadar station. File pic/Ashish Raje

Another commuter, Krishna Patil, said, "The conductor is right. It's his duty to collect revenue for BEST by giving tickets to passengers. Ticket checkers must check tickets and vaccine certificates of passengers. If there's a passenger found in a bus without 2 Vaccine certificates, then who will pay the fine, conductor, TC, passenger or BEST?"

Mahesh Naik, another passenger, cut in: "He is very much right. The person who has given such instructions must have not travelled on a BEST bus any time, else he would have understood their [staff's] pain." Experts said it is possible to verify vaccination certificates on the railways as tickets are issued digitally and the BMC had set up camps outside every station to scrutinise them. But BEST hasn't taken any such initiative nor is it getting similar support from the civic body.

"I agree. It is impossible to check [vaccination certificates] in a crowded bus. What best can be done is to impose earlier restrictions on the number of standees [and if feasible one person per seat]. But it would affect the number of passengers carried. I think self-discipline is the only way now that people are aware of the consequences," senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum & Mumbai Vikas Samiti.

"Not just certificates, passengers wearing masks is also mandatory. The conductor and driver both are liable to check this and fine passengers Rs 500 [for non-compliance]. They have this moral policing duty. I think BEST needs to appoint supervisors at every stop to check the vaccine certificate of passengers before they board the bus. If there is a manpower issue, they can reduce the number of stops. Maybe operate just point

to point buses like AC buses," Jitendra Gupta, Mumbai Transport Forum, said. A BEST spokesperson said that they have issued directives to all depot managers and ground staff to comply with the fresh regulations of Maharashtra government and check vaccination certificates of passengers.

Checks would be intensified soon.

Four of 100 city fliers test positive

Four of the 100 city passengers who landed from ‘countries at risk' have tested positive. The S-gene test was conducted on the sample of one person, which turned out negative. The tests will be conducted for another three people today. There were 466 passengers who landed in the city on November 12, out of which 366 were from outside the city.

Meanwhile, according to the new list, there are more than 2,000 passengers who have landed in the city from at-risk countries.

They are residents of Maharashtra and the BMC is sorting out the names of Mumbai residents. "Till now, four passengers have been found positive. We will conduct an S-gene test, which is a primary test to detect the new variant Omicron. Samples of all four positive people will be sent for genome sequencing in the next round." said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of the BMC.

Prajakta Kasale