Dinesh Kamath's news 'NMMT has an edge over BEST in Navi Mumbai' which was published in Newsband

NMMT has an edge over BEST in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: More and more people in Navi Mumbai prefer to travel by NMMT buses in spite of the hike. Although there was a hike in the fares of NMMT buses, NMMT bus ticket fares are still less than in BEST. Even the fares of AC buses are less than BEST.

The NMMT authorities were fearing that there might be less passengers travelling by their buses after the hike. But the demand for NMMT buses have become much more and this has taken them by total surprise. The hike also came at a time when schools and colleges were to begin but the students too preferred to travel by NMMT buses in spite of the hike.

The passengers travelling by NMMT buses within Navi Mumbai has risen considerably and so also those commuting by NMMT buses which go out of the city to places like Mulund, Borivli, Kalyan, Dombivli and other places. Whether it is long or short distance, the bus commuters in the city prefer NMMT to BEST.  

There is considerable rise in profit too that NMMT is making considering the fact that the fares of the tickets have become higher and so also the number of passengers commuting by their buses in spite of the hike. Whether it is Sunday or weekdays, the NMMT buses are always found to be full of passengers. In fact, these commuters are more than they used to be before the hike.

NMMT used to go on loss before the hike and that was the reason why NMMT authorities had found the hike necessary. But now the loss is cut down considerably. However, the new buses which NMMT has started operating are yet to make enough profit and NMMT has requested the corporation to bear the losses.

While NMMT buses are found to be preferred by Navi Mumbai residents to commute from one place to another, BEST buses on the other hand are found to have less takers as compared to NMMT buses. This fact has left the BEST authorities worried and they are thinking of coming up with some drastic strategy that would make the city residents prefer to travel in big number by BEST buses too. Thus the competition between NMMT and BEST continues and BEST which always used to have an edge over NMMT is now found at the receiving end and it is NMMT which is on top at present.