The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) after hiring drivers on a contract basis, has now initiated the process of taking carriers or bus conductors on a contract basis as well.
Due to the advertisement given by the contractor in the newspaper for the appointment of these carriers, a huge crowd of aspiring candidates gathered at the waiting town hall as a result of which Mumbai Police has reportedly taken action against the contractor for not following any protocols in view of the pandemic and the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, in order to reduce the maintenance cost of BEST's vehicles and to increase BEST's revenue and reduce losses, BEST had decided to hire buses two years ago. The decision was made on the condition that the bus and the driver can belong to the contractor, but the logo and the carrier will belong to BEST. However, due to the lack of carriers, BEST's income began to decline. Therefore, the decision to take the carrier on a contract basis was taken at the recent meeting of the committee of BEST.
At present, BEST has about 1,000 rental vehicles. However, the number of BEST carriers is low. In the past, BEST had about 10,000 carriers. However, in the last few years, this number has come down to 9,000.
The BEST had earlier decided to introduce a single ticket which can be used to travel on various transport services in Mumbai. Moreover, the 'One Nation, One Card' scheme was supposed to be implemented on an experimental basis five months ago. However, the card in the scheme is still undergoing technical testing. The card will enable the passenger to avoid the need to stand in line to get a travel ticket and avoid cash transactions which can prove to be beneficial especially amidst the pandemic.
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