Commuters left stranded after BEST takes 400 CNG buses off city roads

Priyanka Shinde, a commuter who was travelling Dadar to Sewri, told The Indian Express that she had been waiting for her bus for a long time which was not the case earlier. “BEST should take immediate action so the operator can bring back those buses, otherwise now in summer, waiting for buses will be agonising.”

Another commuter Avinash Bhagwat, who travels from Andheri to SEEPZ, said he prefers travelling by BEST buses for their affordability, but on Thursday he had to take a taxi when he saw the long queue of commuters. He said, “Several BEST buses are smaller in size and they ply easily during peak time. I expect BEST will resolve the issue and start these bus services again.”

A long queue of commuters was seen waiting to catch BEST bus to their destination at Andheri on Friday morning. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

BEST on Wednesday said it was taking all its 400 wet-leased CNG buses off Mumbai roads with immediate effect after one of them caught fire in Andheri earlier in the day.

The decision came in the backdrop of three such bus fire incidents within a month. The transport undertaking said it had deployed 297 buses on the routes that were impacted by the withdrawal of 400 CNG buses.

BEST, in a statement, said, “A team of engineers from TATA Motors, that arrived from Lucknow, is re-examining the buses for compliance of safety standards and norms. Once the buses are examined for safety parameters and given necessary clearance and written commitment and assurance of safety norms compliance, they will be reassigned to the roads.” The checking is expected to be completed in a week.

“Safety of commuters is of paramount importance for BEST, and no compromise can be made on this count . We are trying our best to minimise the disruption, and the inconvenience to commuters is regretted,” the statement said.