103 Glorious Years Of The Magnificent Journey Of Mumbai’s BEST Bus
Mumbai: More than a century ago, the first motor-bus service in Bombay was launched by the BEST Company. This historic journey was started on 15th of July 1926 from Afghan Church to Crawford Market in the city of Mumbai. As soon as it was started, it became the source of travelling among the working-class people of the city.
In the previous years of its functioning, it faced constant friction financially but now it has been overtaken by The Municipal Corporation and the fares of these services are decreased considerably.
When glanced into the history of the BEST bus one sees that until 1995 BEST was known as Bombay Electric Supply & Transport and now Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST). It is a civic transport and electricity provider public body based in Mumbai, It was originally set up in 1873 as a tramway company called “Bombay Tramway Company Limited”.
The company set up a captive thermal power station at the Wadi bunder in November 1905 to generate electricity for its trams and positioned it to also supply electricity to the city and rebranded itself to “Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways (BEST)” Company. In 1926, BEST also became an operator of motor buses. It was not until 1947 that the BEST became an Undertaking of the Municipal Corporation and rebranded itself to “Bombay Electric Supply & Transport (BEST)”. In 1995 the organisation was renamed to “Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST)” alongside Bombay being renamed to Mumbai. It now operates as an autonomous body under the Municipal Corporation.
At the initial stage of its launch, the service had to face major setbacks and opposition by the taxi drivers. In spite of the protests, the service ran without a hitch, transporting 600,000 passengers by the end of that year. The following year the number had increased to 3.8 million.
With all the progress and Journey that the service made throughout in 1995 till present day the BEST had its recent developments. With the renaming, the city from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995, the organization was renamed to “Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST)”. Following a Supreme Court directive, the company gradually phased out old buses and introduced new buses which complied with the Euro III pollution control standards.
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