Following commissioning of the new Mumbai Metro Lines 2A and 7 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the service on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking, or BEST, has introduced new three bus routes which will cover some of the main stations of both these metro lines. Commercial operations on these two lines will begin from 4 pm on Friday. Bus service on the three new routes will also start on the same day. According to BEST General Manager (GM) Lokesh Chandra, buses will be available every 20 minutes on the three new routes along Mumbai Metro Lines 2A &7. The service frequency will increase as more buses are added to the fleet later this year. The buses that will run on the three new routes are A-295, A-283, and A-216. On the ridership they are expecting on the three routes, Chandra said, "It all depends on Metro ridership, since the BEST buses along these two lines will act as a feeder service." The MMRDA, which has constructed Mumbai Metro Lines 2A &7 through the densely populated Link Road and Western Express Highway (WEH) between Dahisar and Andheri, is expecting 3-4 lakh passengers to use the two lines daily. The two new lines will also increase the ridership of Mumbai Metro One service, which runs between Versova and Ghatkopar via Andheri, as the two new lines will integrate at WEH and DN Nagar.
