THE city will get its first conductor-less buses on Wednesday on two routes — route number 111 from CSMT to Gateway of India and route number 100 from Churchgate to Nariman Point (Free Press Journal Marg).
BEST will commence the operations during morning peak hours. Those travelling in the buses will have to purchase tickets at the time of boarding. A conductor will be deployed to issue tickets without which one cannot board the bus at the stop. “This will ensure there is no ticketless travel,” said a senior official, adding that at present, nearly 15% passengers travelled without tickets. “So, in a way we will be streamlining BEST manpower utilisation and on the other hand, we will increase our revenue as well,’” he stated.
Sources said that the two routes are usually busy almost throughout the day, with officegoers, tourists, college students among others travelling in these Midi buses. The buses have a seating capacity of 31, with 12 standees. There will be a conductor at the other bus stops to ensure that people do not travel without tickets, sources added. “This is the first time that BEST will experiment with a conductor-less bus,” as reported in TOI.