The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) will start a new bus route from Mira Road station to Dahisar metro station from Monday, February 13.

According to the BEST authority, the new route from Dahisar Check Naka-Kashimira-SliverPark-J&K Bank Marg-Mira Road railway station will help BEST bus commuters travel comfortably. The buses will run at the intervals of 15 minutes.

In an exclusive conversation with mid-day.com, Lokesh Chandra, general manager of BEST, said there is no impact on the ridership of BEST after the opening of Metro Lines 2A and 7. “We are trying to make public transport more and more comfortable and commuter-friendly for the passengers. Due to the change in public transport facilities, many people have shifted from their private mode of transport to public transport.”

Chandra said, “In our case, BEST is more affordable for public in comparison to a self-driven car, or even the shared taxi or auto. For the last mile connectivity, we have already started five to six routes after getting suggestions from the commuters.”

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BEST is studying the suggestions to provide last-mile connectivity to the commuters who are using the Metro lines and then further travel by other public transport services to reach to their final destinations. “We are looking at the new routes so that the commuters have an end-to-end comfortable journey,” Chandra said.

BEST announced five to six routes on the metro lines. Although the overall footfall is not high on all these routes, however, it is expected to rise in coming months.

Chandra said new routes take time to get footfall because of lack of awareness. He said he is sure these routes will see an increase in footfall in the coming months.

Although services on Metro Lines 2A and 7 were earlier partially operational, since January 2023, these routes have become fully operational. “After the lines were fully functional, we added five new routes to take care of the requirement of the commuters,” Chandra said.

Overall, Chandra said BEST is witnessing a steady rise in passenger footfall. This financial year, he said, the department is planning to add more buses and increase the number of buses to 7,000. “I am sure that once these new buses join our fleet, our ridership will exceed 40 lakhs,” he said.

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