The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) seems to be on the path of self-destruction, with its buses slowly turning into something akin to Delhi’s killer Blueline ones. Amidst an astronomical rise in wet-lease buses, discipline and safety have gone for a toss. In the past five years, the BEST has scrapped 2,160 buses, procuring only 37 for its own fleet. Data obtained by RTI activist Jeetendra Ghadge from the Young Whistleblowers Foundation sheds light on how the city’s iconic mode of public transport has been on the decline.
 
The rest of all the new buses in the fleet belong to wet-lease contractors with the BEST having no hold on them, leading to a lack of discipline and a rise in accidents. Trade unions have now called for the complete withdrawal of the wet-lease policy. The BEST has a total of 7212 bus drivers and 7,423 conductors of which 6,563 drivers and 2,340 conductors are attached to wet-lease contractors.

The BEST bus responsible for running over a pedestrian near CSMT on Wednesday. Pic/Shadab Khan