All can travel by BEST buses from today

MUMBAI: Citizens in Mumbai will be able to travel by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses from Monday. This comes after the state government, through Breakthechain initiative, decided to impose a five-level unlock plan.

The cities and districts are classified according to their positivity rate and bed occupancy rate.

Mumbai that comes under level three of the unlock plan, can have passengers travelling in the buses without any standees. Earlier, the employees of essential services could commute by BEST buses.

The state government also made it mandatory for the passengers to wear masks for travelling in BEST buses.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) stated that they will be introducing additional buses from Monday, in order to cater to the increasing number of passengers. “As per the notification issued by the government of Maharashtra, BEST has been allowed to carry passengers with full seating capacity. No standing passengers will be allowed. We will be operating more bus services after inspecting the demand.” said a senior BEST official.

Meanwhile, despite the curbs on non-essential travel, the BEST has witnessed an increase in its passengers. As per data available with BEST, 1.6 million people travelled on its buses in the city on April 19, a rise from the 1.3 million passengers on April 17.

The state government, under the Breakthechain initiative, had not suspended the city’s public transport but had imposed strict restrictions in April.