Mumbai: BEST ladies commuters 7 times more than pre-Covid

MUMBAI: Women travelling in exclusive ladies special buses have gone over seven times this year compared to pre-Covid times, officials said, adding that women feel safe and comfortable while boarding or alighting the buses.

“While there were 54 bus trips daily for women commuters in 2019, and 2,500 female passengers were ferried, the number of trips increased to 393 this year across city and suburbs,” a report released by BEST stated.

The number of women commuters, especially office-goers, have grown to around 18,000 per day in 2022. Few popular routes are CSMT-NCPA, Churchgate to Nariman Point/ WTC, Colaba, Lower Parel, Andheri, Goregaon, Malad, etc.

“We are encouraging more women exclusive buses for the city, which ply during rush hours. This ensures that women do not have to struggle while boarding or alighting from buses,” BEST spokesperson Manoj Varade said.

Shreya Kulkarni who regularly takes buses from CSMT to Nariman Point ladies special said that the increase in ladies special buses in Covid times has benefitted large number of women commuters. “We have a proper queue and don’t have to rush into the bus along with male passengers. We also get more seats instead of 12 reserved seats in a general bus.

BEST recently announced its first female driver, Laxmi Jadhav, who has been appointed to drive between Dharavi bus depot and south Mumbai. Two more female drivers will soon be plying the red buses. “The undertaking also has 90 women conductors, most of whom are deployed on women exclusive special buses,” official said.

When women buses are not in demand during non-peak hours, they are run as normal buses, officials said. State has also sponsored dedicated buses for women in city. In the 2021 budget, it has sanctioned funds for more women-dedicated Tejaswini buses. BEST has 37 buses, Tejaswini, plying across city.

While there are 55 routes for ladies special buses, on 44 other routes, BEST gives priority to women for boarding while buses operate for both men as well as women.