In 1926, the Bombay Tramway Company ushered a new era in India’s public transport as it launched a bus service from Afghan Church to Crawford Market. As more bus routes were added, the service flourished, transporting lakhs of passengers in just two years.
Around 90 years later, that history has faded, as also that success.
The tramway company’s successor, the Brihanmumbai Electrical Supply and Transport Undertaking, is struggling for funds and passengers, with its fleet occupancy declining by 58% in the first quarter of the current year. The undertaking recorded a loss of over Rs 950 crore last year, and the figure is expected to cross Rs 1,000 crore for the first time this year.
“BEST is facing a grim situation,” the undertaking’s general manager Jagdish Patil told Mumbai Mirror. “Statistics reveal that all BEST bus routes have stopped making profits for the last financial year and that the daily number of passengers has come down below 32 lakh.”
If this wasn’t all, the non-ticketing revenue has gone for a dive too, with BEST losing almost Rs 8 crore in ad revenues between 2011 and 2013.
To make sure that the beleaguered bus service doesn’t ride off into the sunset, one Mumbai-based mobile gaming company is doing its bit. This week, Games2Win announced that it’ll pledge to the entity one month’s revenues earned from its game based on BEST buses.
Gaming the system
Imagined as a tribute to the bus service, the game BEST Bus 3D Parking was launched “four-five months ago”, said Alok Kejriwal, chief executive officer of Games2Win.
The game allows players to operate a red BEST bus and park it in BEST parking lots in the city. “We wanted users to drive vehicles that surround them and in conditions that are relatable,” explained Kejriwal. In a short period, it has crossed 2.5 lakh downloads across iOS and Android.
When news reports highlighted BEST’s problems, Kejriwal said, “we decided that we could simply use the game’s revenues for a month to help out the organisation and the response has been great”.
Kejriwal informed that while games on average earn a couple of lakhs a year from advertising, BEST Bus 3D Parking could collect a larger sum because of the “affinity value”.
“We want to help BEST out as much as we can,” he said. “It is an iconic street property which you won’t find anywhere else. From London to America, cities pride themselves on such things and use souvenirs to make money and flaunt their services, so why can’t we do it here?”
Kejriwal plans to collaborate with BEST to launch merchandise that could boost the buses’ public image and generate some extra cash. “It’s a mode of transport that has a huge historical value and is, at the same time, safe and efficient, so we can’t let it just disappear from Mumbai’s streets.”
Rescue mode
On its part, BEST has decided to inform commuters about its financial situation through public meetings every Sunday. The undertaking, meanwhile, is brainstorming on solutions to help revive the ridership and profitability of its buses, which are losing out to like taxis and shared autos.
As an immediate measure, the organisation has come up with a handful of “innovative ideas” to woo back passengers. One of these involves BEST ticket checkers and officials screaming into microphones near railway stations in the morning to inform travellers about their inexpensive tickets and the destinations the buses halt at.
For the long term, BEST has sought dedicated bus lanes in six parts of the city – to increase operational efficiency and to reduce travel time – aside from concessional passes for students.
Meanwhile, it has tweaked some bus routes to accommodate more stops near offices and asked its drivers to halt at stops for a little longer to fill the buses to their capacity.
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Around 90 years later, that history has faded, as also that success.
The tramway company’s successor, the Brihanmumbai Electrical Supply and Transport Undertaking, is struggling for funds and passengers, with its fleet occupancy declining by 58% in the first quarter of the current year. The undertaking recorded a loss of over Rs 950 crore last year, and the figure is expected to cross Rs 1,000 crore for the first time this year.
“BEST is facing a grim situation,” the undertaking’s general manager Jagdish Patil told Mumbai Mirror. “Statistics reveal that all BEST bus routes have stopped making profits for the last financial year and that the daily number of passengers has come down below 32 lakh.”
If this wasn’t all, the non-ticketing revenue has gone for a dive too, with BEST losing almost Rs 8 crore in ad revenues between 2011 and 2013.
To make sure that the beleaguered bus service doesn’t ride off into the sunset, one Mumbai-based mobile gaming company is doing its bit. This week, Games2Win announced that it’ll pledge to the entity one month’s revenues earned from its game based on BEST buses.
Gaming the system
Imagined as a tribute to the bus service, the game BEST Bus 3D Parking was launched “four-five months ago”, said Alok Kejriwal, chief executive officer of Games2Win.
The game allows players to operate a red BEST bus and park it in BEST parking lots in the city. “We wanted users to drive vehicles that surround them and in conditions that are relatable,” explained Kejriwal. In a short period, it has crossed 2.5 lakh downloads across iOS and Android.
When news reports highlighted BEST’s problems, Kejriwal said, “we decided that we could simply use the game’s revenues for a month to help out the organisation and the response has been great”.
Kejriwal informed that while games on average earn a couple of lakhs a year from advertising, BEST Bus 3D Parking could collect a larger sum because of the “affinity value”.
“We want to help BEST out as much as we can,” he said. “It is an iconic street property which you won’t find anywhere else. From London to America, cities pride themselves on such things and use souvenirs to make money and flaunt their services, so why can’t we do it here?”
Kejriwal plans to collaborate with BEST to launch merchandise that could boost the buses’ public image and generate some extra cash. “It’s a mode of transport that has a huge historical value and is, at the same time, safe and efficient, so we can’t let it just disappear from Mumbai’s streets.”
Rescue mode
On its part, BEST has decided to inform commuters about its financial situation through public meetings every Sunday. The undertaking, meanwhile, is brainstorming on solutions to help revive the ridership and profitability of its buses, which are losing out to like taxis and shared autos.
As an immediate measure, the organisation has come up with a handful of “innovative ideas” to woo back passengers. One of these involves BEST ticket checkers and officials screaming into microphones near railway stations in the morning to inform travellers about their inexpensive tickets and the destinations the buses halt at.
For the long term, BEST has sought dedicated bus lanes in six parts of the city – to increase operational efficiency and to reduce travel time – aside from concessional passes for students.
Meanwhile, it has tweaked some bus routes to accommodate more stops near offices and asked its drivers to halt at stops for a little longer to fill the buses to their capacity.
