Mumbai: BEST slashes parking rates, gets more ladies special buses

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The BEST Undertaking on Tuesday slashed fees for parking of private vehicles at bus depots following requests by the Mumbai Parking Authority and also approved buying of 37 new non-AC buses under Tejaswini scheme for exclusive use for women commuters.

After slashing down the fare of its buses, the parking fee has been drastically reduced so instead of paying monthly charge of Rs 5,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 for parking heavy, light and two-wheelers respectively at bus depots for 12-hours, the rates have now slashed to Rs 2000 for buses, Rs 3,630, Rs 1,540 for cars and taxis and for 2-wheelers Rs 660, monthly.

Minimum three-hour slabs each type of vehicle include Rs 20 for two-wheelers, Rs 30 for three-wheelers, Rs 3 for taxi-autos, Rs 55 for truck temps and Rs 60 for buses for a minimum of three hours.

BEST has opened up its depots for public parking since June 2015 but had very steep rates.

Also read: Mumbai: Bus fare cut? Not anytime soon, says BEST committee

In another proposal, it gave nod for buying 37 buses procured under Tejaswini Scheme of the state government. Under the scheme, the contractor is expected to deliver a prototype bus in 45 days and remaining buses in the next 4.5 months. Currently, BEST has a fleet of 3,200 buses and is expected to get 480 more buses, including 80 electric buses. As the number of passengers has gone up, the BEST is in dire need getting more buses in its fleet, since it slashed fare of its non-AC and AC buses between Rs 5 to Rs 25, earlier this month.

Also Read: Mumbai: BEST to start 80 new electric buses

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