FOR BEST PRIVATISATION, NOT BEST POLICY

Not many years ago, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) was widely regarded as an exemplary public bus system in India. However, in just ten years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the BEST management have successfully demonstrated how such a system can be reduced to shambles.

They have dismantled an affordable and reliable transport system and put in its place an unreliable and unsafe network of buses owned, staffed and operated by various private contractors. The justification has been ‘efficiency’ and ‘viability’ – but the result has been operational and financial disarray.

Everywhere in the city, we can see long queues of commuters waiting for buses, sometimes for hours. Discontinuation of long routes, depleted fleet, diverted buses, and failing operations have made travel unbearable for Mumbaikars.

Meanwhile, about thousands of BEST employees are without work because BEST doesn’t have the buses to employ them. To make matters worse, service quality has worsened dramatically. It is important to highlight that these are not problems due to mismanagement but the predictable outcomes of cost-cutting measures to make private operations profitable.

The BMC is the wealthiest municipal corporation in India and has significant reserves, including substantial reserves not tied to any specific purpose. Yet it spends thousands of crores on maladaptive car-only projects like the Coastal Road.