MUMBAI | PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Mumbai's BEST Bus Crisis: The Daily Ordeal Millions of Commuters Cannot Escape

By NBK Travel Desk  |  March 18, 2026

The Bus That Built Mumbai — and the Mess It's In Now

Every morning, millions of Mumbaikars pour out of chawls, housing societies, and suburban lanes to catch a BEST bus. The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking — a mouthful, yes, but a lifeline nonetheless — is one of the oldest public bus services in India. Running since 1873, originally as horse-drawn trams, BEST has been the backbone of Mumbai's working-class mobility for over a century.

But today, that backbone is showing serious stress fractures. The buses are late — or don't come at all. The routes have been slashed. The AC buses feel like a lottery. And if you've tried using the BEST app to check a schedule? Good luck. Mumbai's commuters are frustrated, and they have every right to be.

1. Overcrowding: When a Bus Becomes a Tin Can of Humanity

Walk up to any major BEST bus stop during peak hours — Dadar, Kurla, Andheri — and you'll see the same scene. People hanging off the footboard. Conductors shouting. Passengers wedged so tightly that breathing becomes a competitive sport.

BEST currently operates around 3,200 buses on approximately 390 routes. That may sound like a lot — until you remember that Mumbai has a population of over 21 million. The math simply doesn't work. During peak hours, buses on critical corridors like the Eastern and Western Express Highways run at 150–200% of passenger capacity. The result is not just discomfort. It's a public health concern, a safety issue, and frankly, an insult to the dignity of the daily commuter.

Source: Commuter surveys & BEST passenger load estimates, 2025.

2. Punctuality? More Like a Suggestion

Ask any regular BEST commuter when the next bus arrives and they'll laugh — or sigh. Real-time tracking, while available on paper through the BEST app and Google Maps, is notoriously unreliable. Buses are frequently delayed by 20 to 40 minutes on congested corridors, particularly during monsoon season when Mumbai's roads become something between a river and a parking lot.

The deeper problem is fleet reliability. A large chunk of BEST's operating buses are well over a decade old. Breakdowns mid-route are not rare. When a bus breaks down on, say, the LBS Marg during the morning rush, it doesn't just affect that bus — it creates a cascade that delays the next two or three behind it. Commuters are left stranded, sometimes for 45 minutes, without any announcement or update.

3. Route Rationalisation: A Polite Term for Leaving People Stranded

Over the past decade, BEST has steadily pruned its route network in an attempt to reduce financial losses. In 2019 alone, the undertaking axed dozens of routes deemed “unviable.” To the bureaucrats running the numbers, it made fiscal sense. To the factory worker in Vikhroli who now has to take three modes of transport instead of one direct bus — it was devastating.

Many of the cancelled routes served lower-income neighbourhoods in the eastern suburbs — areas like Mankhurd, Govandi, and Trombay — that don't have easy access to the metro or suburban rail. These communities lost not just convenience, but a vital economic link. The irony is sharp: BEST cuts routes to save money, commuters shift to autos and taxis, traffic worsens for everyone, including BEST buses.

•      Routes serving Dharavi, Mankhurd, Govandi significantly reduced since 2018

•      Several key cross-harbour routes discontinued without adequate replacement

•      Feeder routes to metro stations remain inconsistently planned

•      Night bus services down to a fraction of what they were a decade ago

4. The BEST App: A Study in Digital Disappointment

In theory, the BEST app should be every commuter's best friend. Real-time bus tracking, route planning, digital ticketing — sounds great. In practice? Commuters report that the app crashes regularly, bus location data is often frozen or wildly inaccurate, and the ticket-booking interface is clunky enough to make seasoned tech users give up and queue for a paper ticket instead.

The digital ticketing push — accelerated during the COVID-19 era — also exposed a deeper problem: a significant portion of BEST's daily riders are older workers, domestic staff, or daily wage labourers who are not smartphone-savvy. A digital-first approach without adequate offline alternatives is, at its core, an equity failure.

5. Safety and Infrastructure: The Invisible Problems

Mumbai's bus stops — most of them — are in a sorry state. Broken shelters, missing signage, flooded bus bays during the monsoon, and a near-total absence of seating for senior citizens and the differently abled. The BEST fleet itself, while slowly incorporating new electric buses (thanks to a leasing arrangement with operators), still has a worrying number of older diesel units with poor ventilation, worn-out seats, and unreliable air conditioning in the AC variants.

Women commuters, particularly during early morning or late evening hours, frequently report inadequate lighting at stops and a lack of security presence. While BEST has a reservation of seats for women, enforcement is inconsistent. These are not minor inconveniences — they determine whether someone feels safe enough to use public transport at all.

At a Glance: Mumbai BEST's Core Commuter Pain Points

The Bottom Line

Mumbai's BEST bus network is not just a transport service. It is a social contract — a promise that the city makes to its millions of everyday workers that they will be able to get from one place to another safely, affordably, and with some modicum of dignity. Right now, that contract is under serious strain.

The solutions are not mysterious. More buses, better fleet maintenance, smarter route planning, a genuinely functional app, and safer stops — none of this is rocket science. What's needed is political will and consistent funding. The question is whether Mumbai's administrators are ready to treat BEST as the essential service it is, rather than an accounting liability to be managed.

Because for three million commuters every single day, the BEST bus isn't optional. It's how life gets lived.