The Traffic Department is headed by the Assistant General Manager  (Traffic Operations). He is assisted by the Chief Traffic Manager (Sr.)

Our entire operation is divided into 25 depots. The total area is divided into five zones and each zone is headed by a Traffic Manager who in turn exercises supervision and control over 5 to 6 depots. The operation of all depots is over seen by the Assistant General Manager (Traffic Operation).

The Traffic Superintendent/Assistant Traffic Superintendent heads each Depot. The Senior Traffic Officers, Traffic Officers, Assistant Traffic Officers and Sr. Asst./Office Asst. assist him. This team of officers directly control the operational and administrative activities of the respective Depot. Apart from this team, the supervisory category viz. Bus Inspectors, for plugging the leakage in revenue, Starters for controlling the bus operation etc., are appointed at depots. Each depot is provided with a wireless vehicle, which is used to monitor the operation of buses in the jurisdiction of the depot.

The Bus Running Control Officer mans the Traffic Control Room, round the clock. The section is provided with a VHF set and with hot lines connecting all the depots as also the Police Control, Traffic Police Control, Railways etc. This officer regulates the entire operation smoothly with the help of the Divisional Officers, by being in touch with them through wireless sets.

The Bus Control Section functions round the clock, to attend to the vehicle breakdowns on field. The total operational area is divided into zones and emergency breakdown vans are provided for each zone. These vehicles are provided with necessary spares/units so as to carry out emergency repairs on the field itself. For speedy communication these vehicles are equipped with VHF sets.

The Vigilance Cell is functioning round the clock around the entire operational area. These Flying Squads keep vigil on the operating staff, to maintain the quality of service provided to the Citizens of this great metropolis.

The BEST has established a Training Center, to provide training to the operating staff. It includes an Accident Prevention Training Vehicle.

The Ticket and Cash Department collects the daily revenue earned at the depots. The same is counted, consolidated, and remitted in the banks through the Centralised cash room. Inventory of ticket blocks to be issued to the conductors, is also maintained.

The Accident and Claims Department, as the name suggests, is established for settling the claims of personal injury / death due to accident involving our buses. Also various programs on Road Safety / Passenger Safety, to create awareness amongst the operating staff, passengers, pedestrians, and school children, are organised.

The Planning Department is established to prepare the schedules for different routes. An exercise in revision of schedules is periodically carried out after taking into consideration the guidelines given by the Management, suggestions received from the Divisional Officers and also from our valued commuters. The schedules are revised after every four months. Uneconomic routes are discontinued and the financial viability of the routes is appraised both at depot level as also at the Head Quarter level.

The routes operated by the BEST can be broadly classified in the following categories.

1) Feeder Routes: These routes which feed the railway stations either from the residential complexes or Business Districts.

2) East-West Connectors: These are the routes, which run East/West, where railways have no role to play and connect the Western Suburb with the Eastern suburb.

3) Trunk Routes: These routes run South-North through the city and are almost parallel to the railways.

The primary role of the BEST is to supplement Suburban Rails, which is the mass carrier. It is for this reason that BEST always gives priority for feeder routes and thereafter for East-West connectors where the railways have absolutely no direct role to play. The third priority is the long distance trunk route, which is an alternative to Suburban Railways, apart from being inter-corridor link between Suburbs and City.

The BEST always gets suggestions for introducing new routes. These suggestions are categorised into the above mentioned groups.

While introducing the bus operation on any new road the following requirements are ensured for maintaining the quality of service.

1) The road is Municipalised.
2) The road is Bus worthy and wide enough to allow the passage of two vehicles at a time.
3) There are no overhead obstructions in the form of cables/tree branches.
4) There are enough streetlights.
5) Manoeuvering is comfortable and there are no blind corners.
6) There is a good turning circle at the terminating point for reversing the buses.

At this stage it is necessary to state that when every commuter desires a direct connection, he should realise that it is not always possible to inter connect every point with a direct route. One change is absolutely inevitable in any city transport network. Inspite of this the BEST tries to provide a direct connection wherever absolutely required but specific access to some areas is available with one changeover.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE TRAFFIC OPERATIONS

Zero Waiting Time Plan: The BEST operates buses with Zero Waiting Time concept on different routes during the Morning and Evening peak hours to have faster clearance of heavy passenger traffic outside Railway Stations and major residential/commercial/CBD Areas. The BEST ensures that a bus is always waiting for a passenger rather than having it the other way round. The plan is designed keeping in mind the volume/period of traffic with a view to encourage use of Public Transport and discourage use of private and Intermediate Personal Transport modes like Taxis and Autorickshaws. The important points of operation are Bhatia Baug, NCPA, World Trade Center, etc.

Excursion Action Plans: The city of Mumbai has various Excursion points where heavy passenger traffic is generated from the City and Suburbs during Weekends and Holidays. To cater with the heavy demand of the passengers, the BEST operates Excursion Action Plans on various routes on Sundays/Holidays. Some of the Action Plans are Juhu Chowpatty Action Plan, National Park Action Plan etc.

Festival Action Plans: Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city its citizens celebrate their festivals with gaiety and pomp. The BEST operates special buses during the festivals like Ganapati Festival, Diwali Festival, Christmas and New Year Eve.

Ladies Special & Ladies First Services: In Order to reduce the hardships faced by the Ladies commuters, while boarding the bus during the peak hours, the BEST has introduced Ladies Special Trips on heavily patronised routes. Similarly “Ladies First At Starting Points” trips are also provided to facilitate lady commuters.

OPERATION OF MIDI BUSES: The areas in which it was not possible for the BEST to operate the conventional buses due to narrow roads, the BEST has introduced Midi Buses at such places. It thus goes on with its ultimate aim of providing a BEST bus service to every nook and corner of the city.
 

UPGRADED SERVICES: The vehicle population in the City of Mumbai has increased considerably in the recent past. More and more people are using personalised vehicles and this has resulted in ascendancy of traffic problems. With a view to motivate private owners to switchover to Mass Transport, BEST has introduced Air-conditioned services.

AIR-CONDITIONED SERVICE: BEST has introduced its Air-conditioned service on 29th March, 1998 at the hands of Shri Manohar Joshi, Chief Minister of Maharashtra. BEST has a novel concept of providing homely comfort to its clientele and thus introduced this service.

EXCURSION SERVICE: BEST in collaboration with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, has introduced a special heritage tour with effect from 26th January 1997, in an Open Deck Bus in South Mumbai.

GROUND BOOKING: For the convinence of the passenger the Undertaking has implemented ground booking scheme at the prominent locations during peak hours. In all on 45 routs this scheme has been implemented

OPERATION BEYOND MUNICIPAL LIMITS: The BEST operates inter-city services to three different areas beyond the Municipal limits of Mumbai city, i.e. into the limits of the bordering corporations. The three areas are as follows:

1) Navi Mumbai: Due to the closure of the Bombay Metropolitan Transport Corporation, the BEST management was requested to extend some of its services from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, in order to relieve the hardships faced by the commuters of Navi Mumbai.
2) Mira-Bhayander: Citing the reference of the BEST operation in Navi Mumbai area, the Chairman, Mira-Bhayander Nagar Palika and the residents of that area requested the BEST to extend the service in their jurisdiction.

3) Thane: The Mayor, Thane Municipal Corporation had requested the BEST, on behalf of the residents of the Thane area, to extend a few services of BEST into the jurisdiction of Thane Municipal Corporation.

Transport is the lifeline of any city, and BEST being the monopoly stage carriage Operator of this great Metro, it becomes the prime duty of BEST to ensure the development of the satellite townships by providing a proper transport network. No city or township can develop, if the Transportation, and Communication network is not proper and it is here that the onus of developing a transport network falls on the BEST.