A reduction in the fare of the city’s iconic red buses has thrown up a mixed bag in terms of revenue generation and passenger growth. A day after the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking slashed the fares, it recorded a jump of around 30% in terms of number of passengers but saw the revenue generated from tickets decline by 31%.
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BEST officials said the motive behind reducing the fare was to attract passengers back to the bus service. The BEST’s daily passenger traffic has been steadily declining over the past few years and has dropped to 26 lakh per day from around 42 lakh a decade ago.
Lowest scorer
Magathane depot recorded the highest loss in terms of revenue at about 40%. Is also recorded the lowest gain (14%) in daily passengers as compared to other depots. Most depots recorded a revenue loss and passenger gain similar to the average for the public transport undertaking.
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BEST officials, however, said the data was simply comparing the traffic and revenue on Monday with Tuesday and a more real picture would emerge after a few weeks. A BEST spokesperson also said that the number of total passengers would be higher since season pass holders were not included in the count.
The BEST implemented a new fare structure on Tuesday with fares ranging from ₹5 to ₹20 for non air-conditioned buses and ₹6 to ₹25 for air conditioned buses across four slabs: 0 to 5 km, 5 to 10 km, 10 to 15 km, and journeys in excess of 15 km.