The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has decided to scrap 159 buses from its fleet over the next one year.
The BEST currently has a strength of 3,496 buses, but it has been asked to maintain an optimum fleet strength of 3,337 buses. The public transport provider has framed a schedule to scrap buses older than 15 years.
Surendrakumar Bagde, general manager, BEST, said: “We propose to augment our fleet with 27 buses from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority [MMRDA]. Another set of buses will be acquired on lease soon.”
Mr. Bagde said that regular bus services would not be hampered as optimum fleet strength would be maintained. The BEST also proposes to acquire air-conditioned buses on lease from private operators to support its transport operations.
Earlier, when the BEST had proposed to spend ₹1.78 crore to purchase 600 personal computers for its administrative department, senior BEST member Sunil Ganacharya had suggested acquiring computers on lease to save costs.
Mr. Ganacharya pointed that new computers were lying unused at the BEST’s Worli depot. Mr. Badge had also proposed to buy Intel computers, but later settled for Intel/AMD to reduce costs.
Mr. Bagde said, “We need computers only for our staff to type out documents and access the internet. We don’t need to buy high-end brands for such regular work.” The committee has approved scrapping the buses and buying the computers.
