Maharashtra: Poor ridership, Tejaswini buses now allow men

“We are short of buses in our depots and these buses go empty during off-peak hours. We have allowed our conductors to allow men to board these women exclusive buses,” BEST Chairman Anil Patankar said.

Officials said a Tejaswini bus does not get more than 350 passengers in a day. This, they said is “very poor” performance when compared to a normal BEST bus, which gets about 1,000 passengers daily on the same route.

Of these 108 trips by Tejaswini buses, 49 are operated during the morning peak hours (between 8 am to 11 am), when commuters are picked up from CSMT and dropped to NCPA. Between 4.30 pm to 8 pm (evening peak hours), 46 trips are operated from NCPA to CSMT. In addition, 13 trips are made by these buses during off peak hours. Between November 29 and December 14, these buses collectively ferried an average of 2,000 passengers daily.

Officials said that trips during morning peak hours are a great success, but the same does not hold true while they make return trips from NCPA to CSMT. Barring a few, several buses ply nearly empty.

Now, some Tejaswini buses have started to allow men on board. Milan Godse, a commuter, said Tejaswini buses can be thrown open for men, provided a large chunk of seats are reserved for women. “I was late for office and missed my regular office drop. But as soon as I stepped out of my office, there was a Tejaswini bus waiting to take us to the station, which was great. If the buses are running empty, there is no harm in allowing men to board, provided seats are reserved for women commuters.”

However, another commuter, Rakhi Sharma, said, “There is no space in morning peak hours and the buses function perfectly well. Instead of allowing all men, exceptions can made by allowing senior citizens to board these buses or those in emergency, a call which the conductor can take.”

BEST is in the process of procuring 37 Tejaswini buses, of which it has received 17 buses so far. While 10 have been pressed into service, six ply simultaneously. BEST procured these buses, worth about Rs 30 lakh each, after receiving a grant of Rs 11.5 crore from the state government.