The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking, which has been cutting down the number of buses in the face of losses, will add 530 buses to its existing fleet in the next few months at a much lower cost than ever.
Its fleet size will be close to 2016-17, when it had 3,749 buses. The undertaking is managing to keep its costs low as it has opted for a wet lease model.
The additional buses will partly resolve an issue plaguing its transport operations: the lack of buses on the roads. The public bus service’s patronage has been steadily declining over the years and stands at 21 lakh per day. One of the key reasons behind the decline is the poor frequency of buses due to declining fleet size.
The BEST’s burgeoning losses, which are at over ₹2,000 crore, did not allow them to purchase additional buses as and when older ones had to be scrapped. Under the wet lease model, the BEST will not need to purchase the buses. Instead, it will hire a contractor who will provide a driver and take care of maintenance.
BEST has given the work order to hire 450 diesel buses and 80 electric buses. The first lot of 25% of diesel buses will be supplied within three months, 50% in the fourth month, and the balance 25% in the fifth month. The first set of 20 electric buses is set to arrive by the end of June.
The costing of the electric buses is still being worked out as they will be jointly owned by a contractor and the BEST. However, under the work order, it is specified that each of the 450 diesel buses will be expected to run at least 3,500 km in a month. Effectively, it would mean that the BEST’s entire kilometre run per month will increase by 18.55 lakh. In March 2019, with a fleet of 3,223 buses, BEST’s monthly kilometre run stood at 144.38 lakh. On an average, buses travelled around 4,479 km a day in March.
However, BEST will need to pay around ₹4,700 to ₹5,600 per bus and bear the cost of salaries of the ticketing staff such as conductors, ticket checkers, etc. According to senior BEST officials, a major portion of the cost goes in paying salaries. “In the wet lease model, we will be able to provide more buses and incur lower costs of operating,” a senior BEST official said.
In March, BEST incurred a daily cost of ₹19,855 per bus, while the revenue per bus was only around ₹8,390. BEST General Manager Surendrakumar Bagde said they were working towards a plan of increasing their fleet size to 6,000 buses in the future.
