Rao said all buses on city roads could be contractual in three years, leaving BEST at the mercy of private operators. Former BEST committee members and transport analysts echoed Rao, saying old buses were being phased out gradually, thereby reducing the fleet, and there were major delays in procuring new electric and CNG buses on contract. Blaming the situation on poor planning, they said instead of depending on wet lease buses, BEST could buy its own buses and run them with experienced drivers.
According to them, BEST was pushing contractual buses at the cost of services to daily commuters, with waits at some of the stops running to over 30 minutes.
Former BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya said, "It reflects on the poor policy of govt and no planning by BEST management. By now, we would have had a fleet of 2,600 buses (1,100 in fleet at present and additional 1,500 buses if they had been purchased during the past 6-7 years)." He said the undertaking had adequate drivers and mechanics and, therefore, purchasing new buses would not prove a burden. "Instead, bus services will improve with experienced and safe drivers instead of less experienced private drivers hired by contractors," he opined.
Transportation analyst Hussain Indorewala, who is of the opinion that BEST should have 100% fleet of its own, said, "We repeatedly warned BEST of three dangers of wet-leasing model -- contractors would make profits by underpaying workers which would destabilise the transport service; contractors would cut corners on maintenance which would affect the quality and reliability of the service; and privatisation was a prelude to selling BEST depot lands. All these have been borne out by recent developments."
According to him, the policy of bringing in privately operated buses has been a dismal failure. "It is obvious that all the talk of 'restructuring’ BEST is doubtful, and merely a cover for curtailing or winding down the transport undertaking to prevent it from competing with the big-ticket Metro project, and to eventually open up BEST’s land holdings in the city for commercial exploitation," he said.
A senior BEST official, while denying the charges, said apart from cost savings, wet-leased buses came with three benefits -- zero maintenance, less overhead costs as drivers are provided by the private agency and no capital cost to purchase new buses. "In case of delays in deliveries of buses, we have sent notices to private operators and deliveries will be expedited in the next 3-4 months," he said. He added that a few months back, the BEST management had written to the civic authorities seeking INR 3,400 crore to purchase around 2,200 buses. "We are also serious about buying buses," he added, but it was not clear when BMC will provide this fund.
Activist Nikhil Desai suggested the central government should step in and fund at least 1,000 new AC electric double decker buses to Mumbai, which is India's financial capital and contributes the maximum taxes. Mahim activist Irfan Machiwala said the state could sanction funds to help BEST buy its own buses. "Besides, last September, BEST could have purchased a small fleet of non-AC double deckers after old buses were phased out. These non-AC twin deck buses were iconic, spacious, with good ventilation and popular for upper deck front row seats," he said.
Rao said an MoU was signed between BEST management and unions wherein it was agreed that BEST will have 3,337 buses of its own. The BEST-owned fleet has diminished by one-third and now there are just 1,100 buses left.
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