BEST launches special drive against ticketless travellers; collects Rs 58,457 fine in one day

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has launched a special drive to curb ticketless travelling on its buses since the start of the New Year and caught nearly 950 passengers for unauthorized rides in a single day earlier this week.

In a release issued on Thursday, BEST said under the drive, it caught 945 ticketless passengers on January 2 and collected a fine of Rs 58,457 from them.

The civic transport body, that provides public bus services in Mumbai along with neighbouring Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayandar cities, said the fine amount collected on January 2 was eight times more than the average per day penalty of Rs 7,000 it used to collect before the drive.

BEST said it has deputed 382 ticket checking inspectors under the special drive and deployed smaller teams of such personnel on crowded routes in the metropolis.

The civic undertaking has a fleet of around 3,000 buses that operate on different routes in Mumbai and ferry 32 lakh to 35 lakh passengers daily.

According to the release, if a passenger is caught travelling without a valid ticket, BEST collects ten times regular fare from him and on refusal to pay fine, it takes action as per section 460(H) of the Mumbai Municipal Act, 1988.

Under the section, such passengers can be sent to prison for up to one month or fined Rs 200 or both.