BEST fleet to cross 10,000 buses: Uddhav Thackeray

As of now, the BEST runs over 3,800 buses in Mumbai and its suburbs ferrying lakhs of passengers daily

In a big push to infrastructure and transport sectors, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced that Mumbai’s civic bus undertaking’s fleet would be taken to over 10,000.

The BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST), an undertaking of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), runs bus services in Mumbai that extends to areas of the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR).

As of now, the BEST runs over 3,800 buses in Mumbai and its suburbs ferrying lakhs of passengers.

“The BEST would have a fleet of 10,000 buses,” Thackeray said after inaugurating BEST’s Command & Control Room located in the Wadala Depot. The system comprises Intelligence Transport Management System and Vehicle Tracking System.

“During the Lockdown, when the trains were shut, it was BEST that shouldered the responsibility of running the buses so that emergency services can run normally,” he said after unveiling the first driverless Metro Rail for Line 7 & 2A, the branding manual, travel card and Operations Control Centre, Charkop Depot and Receiving SubStation.

Thackeray said that the next three to four years are very important for infrastructure in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

He said in May that the Nagpur-Shirdi leg of the Nagpur-Mumbai super communication highway will be commissioned. One of the Mumbai Metro lines is also expected to be commissioned in May-June. “Work of the Coastal Road is in progress. Work is also underway at the Sewree-Nhava Sheva Trans-Harbour Link,” he said.