The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) has been working endlessly since the first day of the coronavirus induced lockdown in the city. In recent developments, the BEST has now provided its premises to set up quarantine centres.
According to sources, a 200-bed, air-conditioned care centre has been erected at the Kandarpada depot whereas another one has been set up at the Dahisar bus station. The BEST undertaking has 27 bus depots, 51 bus stations and 112 bus terminals. With the Maharashtra government launching the 'Mission Begin Again' initiative on June 8, BEST started 2,132 buses on 82 routes in the city of Mumbai for workers travelling for the essential services. Over the last three months, BEST has continued to increase the number of buses on the roads to meet the demand in the surge in the number of people travelling to their workplaces. As of July 15, the BEST is running around 2,300 buses and is very close to rolling out its entire fleet of 3,400 buses back to the street.
Earlier, On July 13, nearly 60 double-decker buses resumed operations to cater to the increase in the number of people on the roads. The double-decker buses of BEST have a seating capacity for 90 passengers but only 45 passengers were allowed in each bus with regards to the social distancing protocols. In the past, the BEST had also begun the process of issuing and renewing new bus passes to the people. Furthermore, the BEST has also announced that it will launch several feeder routes including buses outside CSMT and Churchgate station.
Furthermore, in order to protect its employees from the novel coronavirus, the BEST has been providing its employees with Remdesivir, which happens to be one of the leading drugs in the fight against COVID-19, even though there happens to be a known shortage of the drug in the market.
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