The latest figures released by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) show that the undertaking has lost a whopping 60 per cent of its commuters per bus in the past 10 years.
This means the oldest public commuting undertaking in the city today plies with just 40 per cent of commuter numbers reported back in 2005-06. The report said the period between 2010-11 and 2015-16 was the most degressive with the freefall attributed to four fare hikes implemented then.
According to BEST, the number of commuters who travelled in each bus were almost 1,346 back in 2005–06; this number stayed the same for the next two years and after which a slight decrease was perceived.
In the year 2010-11, the number dropped from 1,030 commuters per bus to 1,003 in 2011-12, this descent in numbers continued till June 2015, when measly 822 commuters were reported per bus.
The report added a comment, ‘Compared to figures of commuters from the year 2005-06, there has been a major decrease in the number of commuters. This drop has mainly been due to fare hikes between 2010-11 to 2015-16 which were done four times with most recent and consecutive hikes being on February and April last year.’
A senior BEST official said this was known but seeing the decrease in number of commuters on paper has been jolting. “There was a time when 41 lakh commuters caught the bus everyday to work or home but now it’s just 28 lakhs,” said the official.
The report further stated the two consecutive hikes were due to increasing maintenance costs, decreasing profits and the lack of help from BMC. The BEST had 41 lakh commuters back in 2005-06, but this number plummeted to 28 lakhs by June 2015.
