No bus pass renewal for a month, say commuters; BEST says will start soon

BEST’s contract with the vendor who ran the bus pass renewal system has ended. File pic

Commuting woes for Mumbaikars continue as the system for BEST bus pass renewals at bus depots was abruptly suspended. BEST officials said it was just a temporary move as the contract with the previous party ended and the new party was in a testing mode, and said the process will restart soon. They added that a digital facility of renewals will also be available soon.

"When will the BEST monthly bus pass and online ticket booking start? It has been nearly a month since it has been kept closed," a commuter, asked. "What's with bus passes? I went to the Vashi bus depot but they are not renewing passes and are also not even giving proper information," said another commuter, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Ansari.

Mangesh Sharma, another person who travels by BEST buses, said, "All BEST bus pass renewal centres at Borivli East, Kandivli East are closed. TCs are saying there is some strike. The helpline number is unaware of when issuance of passes will begin as it is being done by a different department."

A student, on the condition of anonymity, said, "I am a student, hence I can avail concession for bus pass. I went to the Agarkar bus station at Andheri but they said the pass is not available." Another regular commuter Pawan Dubey said, "I made five consecutive calls to the helpline number but could not connect due to line failure."

BEST spokesperson said that bus passes will be available soon as the new system was under strict trials to make the system fail safe. "We are launching a new automated fare collection system very soon which will have a passenger-friendly digital tickets and pass system," BEST General Manager Lokesh Chandra told mid-day.