Thane politicians urge BEST for more services

THANE: This may come as a disgrace for the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT), as citizens seem to be more keen on Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) starting services in the city, rather than banking on the local transport undertaking. A BEST source said that in the last three months almost all top political leaders from the city have reportedly approached the BEST undertaking, requesting them to connect the city.
In the latest development, a Shiv Sena MLA had met BEST officials last week with a request to extend some services from the city and also to continue plying buses from Bramhand that the undertaking had initially planned to discontinue. An NCP strongman from Thane echoed the sentiments saying that their interest is to provide better services to residents and if BEST can provide it then there is no harm in requesting them to take over the Thane streets, he said.
BEST chairman Nana Ambole confirmed that he received several requests from Thane politicians for starting services to the city. "We want to cater to commuters from Thane. We are trying our best to start services from Mumbai to Thane in the coming days," he told TOI. However, an insider from the BEST claimed that operating services to Thane meant financial losses, as they had to run empty buses to and from BEST depots in Mumbai daily. "We do not have a depot in Thane and so buses have to be ferried empty to Thane in the morning and it is the same situation in the opposite direction in the evening. This means each bus runs empty for around 10-15kms leading to unnecessary fuel wastage," said a BEST source.
The BEST presently operates around 168 buses on some 22 routes in the city presently, but sources said it wasn't feasible to run services to the city from Mumbai. The TMT, in turn, is still struggling to make its ends meet and run atleast 200 buses on its 56 routes daily. "Buses aren't maintained properly and this is why a majority of our buses cannot leave the depot daily," said a TMT staffer. TMT said around 30 buses on an average develop snags daily disrupting normal schedule. Heavily banking on the new JNNURM buses, TMT said it may rationalize some of its routes in the coming days after conducting an audit.