[sustran] ‘A service, not an enterprise’: Privatising Mumbai’s BEST buses means unraveling a system that works

Vinay Baindur yanivbin at gmail.com
Sun Aug 26 17:24:25 JST 2018
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https://scroll.in/article/889584/a-service-not-an-enterprise-privatising-mumbais-best-buses-means-unraveling-a-system-that-works




‘A service, not an enterprise’: Privatising Mumbai’s BEST buses means
unraveling a system that worksProtests against the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation’s privatisation plans are growing.[image: ‘A service, not an
enterprise’: Privatising Mumbai’s BEST buses means unraveling a system that
works]Punit Paranjpe/AFP
Aug 21, 2018 · 08:00 am
Shilpa Phadke <https://scroll.in/author/2449>

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Sometime in the mid-1980s: the bus was full of chattering children in
school uniforms. Conductor uncle was indulgent, yet firm. But this was not
a school bus, though it looked like one. It was a BEST (Brihanmumbai
Electric Supply and Transport) bus and all of us were certain it belonged
to us.

In July, a thread of tweets with the hashtag #BESTStories invoked nostalgia
with citizens of Mumbai and elsewhere talking about routes they took as
children, about friendships, blossoming and failed romances that marked
these bus rides, about sitting on the front seat on top of a double-decker
bus, but most of all about the freedom, mobility and fun the BEST buses
facilitated.

<https://twitter.com/StirredOrShaken>
Uma Asher at StirredOrShaken
<https://twitter.com/StirredOrShaken>
 · Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/StirredOrShaken/status/1014053770228101125>
<https://twitter.com/StirredOrShaken/status/1014053770228101125>

Lovely thread on Bombay, Mumbai, public transportation, buses, stories,
women, friends, joy [image: ❤️][image: ❤️][image: ❤️]#SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash> #BESTStories
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BESTStories?src=hash> #WhyLoiter
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhyLoiter?src=hash> #publictransport
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/publictransport?src=hash> #bus
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/bus?src=hash> #commuterlife
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/commuterlife?src=hash> #commute
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/commute?src=hash> #joy
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/joy?src=hash> https://
twitter.com/whyloiter/status/1013738781218934784 … <https://t.co/6qUBfBFJvg>

<https://twitter.com/samjourno123>
Sameera Khan at samjourno123
<https://twitter.com/samjourno123>

Recollecting #BESTJourneys
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BESTJourneys?src=hash> brings back many other
memories & thots - of bus friendships, nods shared with regular commuters,
familiarity with conductor on daily route, joy of bagging front seat on
upper deck, those bus rides of yr youth when you first tasted freedom #
SaveBEST <https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash>
2:44 PM - Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/samjourno123/status/1014074935445196800>

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Twitter Ads info and privacy <https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>

<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm>
Aditya Mandrekar at aditya_rm
<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm>
 · Jul 4, 2018 <https://twitter.com/aditya_rm/status/1014500604230676481>
<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm/status/1014500604230676481>

Earliest memories of BEST travel: taking the 67 to Grant road to catch my
school bus to go to kindergarten much further away. Memories of indulgent
conductors who would give me addition/subtraction problems to solve on
blank ticket paper. #BESTStories
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BESTStories?src=hash> #SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash>

<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm>
Aditya Mandrekar at aditya_rm
<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm>

The other memory I have is, age 11 when my cousin (12) and I would go for
cricket practice to Marine drive. Each would get ₹1 from parents towards
bus tickets. Couple of kids traveling alone without fear! #BESTStories
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BESTStories?src=hash> #SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash> @whyloiter
<https://twitter.com/whyloiter>
6:58 PM - Jul 4, 2018
<https://twitter.com/aditya_rm/status/1014501294520848384>

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Research conducted by the Gender and Space project, of which I was a part,
between 2003 and 2006 on women’s access to public spaces in Mumbai,
published in the book *Why Loiter?*
<https://www.amazon.in/Why-Loiter-Shilpa-Phadke/dp/0143415956>,
demonstrated unequivocally that public transport – the city’s network of
BEST buses, suburban trains and the links between the two – made Mumbai the
friendliest, most accessible city in the country for women. A decade later,
we are seeing the gradual erosion
<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/best-fails-to-make-5000-trips-loses-rs-55-lakh-a-day/articleshow/65299912.cms>
of
BEST services and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s articulation of
its intent to hand over operations to private agencies
<https://scroll.in/article/851476/mumbais-iconic-buses-are-in-dire-straits-what-is-the-best-way-out>
and
sell bus depots to real estate developers. In short, to unravel a system
that works, and works brilliantly.

<https://twitter.com/antaraganguli>
antara ganguli at antaraganguli
<https://twitter.com/antaraganguli>
<https://twitter.com/antaraganguli/status/1014044380510863362>

#BEST <https://twitter.com/hashtag/BEST?src=hash> buses helped me get to
where I am today but since I had access to pvt transport, I would have
gotten here anyway. Without BEST buses, many Bombay girls, boys and women
will not be able to get to their future at all. #SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash> #whyloiter
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/whyloiter?src=hash> @whyloiter
<https://twitter.com/whyloiter>
12:43 PM - Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/antaraganguli/status/1014044380510863362>

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<https://twitter.com/specofdot>
Dot at specofdot
<https://twitter.com/specofdot>
<https://twitter.com/specofdot/status/1014005652346286080>
Replying to @specofdot and 11 others
<https://twitter.com/_/status/1014004157697716224>

As a journalism intern in 2010, figuring out the bus routes across the city
was what gave comfort. Knowing that no matter what unfamiliar part of the
city I landed up in following a story, I can always get on to a BEST and it
will take me back to familiarity. #SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash> #WhyLoiter
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhyLoiter?src=hash>
10:09 AM - Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/specofdot/status/1014005652346286080>

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Our research also revealed narratives of sexual harassment on BEST buses,
yet women in our study reported that they found buses safer than trains
because one could get off anywhere. Also, in Mumbai, BEST conductors are
more likely to throw sexual harassers off buses than elsewhere in the
country. In the 1980s, I recollect being on a bus that was taken to a
police station to report a sexual harasser on two occasions.

In the weeks following the gangrape and murder of a young woman in an
off-duty chartered bus in Delhi in December 2012, one pointed out that such
a crime could not take place in a Mumbai bus because the system ensured
that BEST buses could not be taken on joyrides*. *Now, it seems we may no
longer have a reason to feel so smugly safe since the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation is all set to privatise a service that makes access
to the city for women possible.

<https://twitter.com/swarraj>
Swarna Rajagopalan at swarraj
<https://twitter.com/swarraj>
 · Jul 3, 2018 <https://twitter.com/swarraj/status/1014001575302270977>
<https://twitter.com/swarraj/status/1014001575302270977>
Replying to @DeathEndsFun and 13 others
<https://twitter.com/_/status/1013997181512978432>

I was just thinking about 106, 104 the buses that wound their way to Kamala
Nehru Park. Also a beautiful route although now you can hardly see the sea
from the drive. #SaveBEST <https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash>

<https://twitter.com/swarraj>
Swarna Rajagopalan at swarraj
<https://twitter.com/swarraj>

#SaveBEST <https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash> There is also the
BEST experience in the age of Walkmans and earphones. When the long bus
ride acquired a soundtrack. BEST memory: Discovering Ravel's Bolero on a
rainy ride from Bandra to Fountain.
9:59 AM - Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/swarraj/status/1014003264222720000>

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Saving BEST

These plans have been met with protests, which are growing in number.
The Aamchi
Mumbai Aamchi BEST <https://cjp.org.in/aamchi-mumbai-aamchi-best/> movement,
for instance, has put forward its people’s plan for BEST, which includes
demands for subsidised public transport, accessibility and affordability,
dis-incentivising private transport, and accountability and consultation in
the decision-making process. On Monday, this citizens’ platform, along with
the Centre for Urban Policy and Governance at the School of Habitat
Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, organised a panel
discussion titled “Better than BEST? The Future of Public Transport in
Mumbai”.
ADVERTISEMENT

Speaking of the gendered nature of transport usage at the discussion,
feminist activist Sandhya Gokhale pointed out that women in Mahul – most of
them relocated
<https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/26/mumbai-poor-mahul-gentrification-polluted>
from
slums in other parts of the city to make way for infrastructure projects –
are poorly served by BEST. The fare to Kurla, one of the nearest railway
stations, is Rs 16, often well beyond their means.

Jagnarayan M Gupta, head of the BEST Kamgar Sagathana or workers’ union,
said a total of 785 buses are detained in depots every day for lack of
staff. The numbers tell their own story: 112 routes have been suspended so
far, 95 trips have been cancelled since August 2017, increasing the gap
between buses on a route, and 230 air-conditioned buses have been “retired”
since April 2017. These cuts have meant reduced wages, lack of bonuses and
increasing contractual employment for workers, whose numbers are dwindling.
Gupta also pointed out that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, said to
be the country’s richest municipal body, does not subsidise BEST. Instead,
it loans money to BEST and charges it interest*.*

According to transport expert Ashok Datar, there are now more people using
various forms of private transport than those using public transport and
this does not augur well for any city. He argued that money from parking
can and should be used to subsidise BEST.

Amita Bhide, professor at the School of Habitat Studies, tied up the
arguments succinctly, arguing that public transport is not an enterprise
but a service. It must be operated by a public entity in the interest of
the public and it must run on public money. Any commitment to a genuine
service cannot involve privatisation as the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation seems to desire. Bhide said the corporation must recognise that
the users of these services are citizens, not consumers.

<https://twitter.com/swarraj>
Swarna Rajagopalan at swarraj
<https://twitter.com/swarraj>
 · Jul 3, 2018 <https://twitter.com/swarraj/status/1013995510426787841>
<https://twitter.com/swarraj/status/1013995510426787841>
Replying to @DeathEndsFun and 13 others
<https://twitter.com/_/status/1013995042162085888>

Yes, I remember those two. Though it was novel to climb to the front of the
lower deck, the upper deck was still literally and otherwise cooler, once I
got over that fear!

<https://twitter.com/DeathEndsFun>
Dilip D'Souza at DeathEndsFun
<https://twitter.com/DeathEndsFun>

On Nepean Sea Road once, I got off at my stop and to impress the young lady
I was with, I pulled the cord to ring the bell to get the bus moving again.
Irate conductor stopped the bus just ahead, got off and harangued me. Also,
she wasn't impressed. #SaveBEST
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveBEST?src=hash>
9:32 AM - Jul 3, 2018
<https://twitter.com/DeathEndsFun/status/1013996329440194560>

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‘It belongs to us, the city’s citizens’

In Mumbai, public services are increasingly being privatised or are being
built for private uses (such as the construction of a coastal road
<https://scroll.in/article/876929/what-will-mumbais-coastal-road-actually-look-like-an-eyesore-say-these-architectural-projections>
instead
of bailing out BEST and enhancing its services). Healthcare and education,
too, are going the privatisation way. The slow dismantling of BEST may just
be the proverbial last straw needed to galvanise citizens into action.
ADVERTISEMENT

Not just the stuff of Mumbai nostalgia, BEST is a living, breathing system
that facilitates the livelihoods of the city’s poor, and access and
mobility for its women and marginal citizens. We cannot and must not let it
unravel. As children in the 1980s, we instinctively understood the
principle of a public service, that it belongs to us, the city’s citizens.
We must continue to do so.

*Shilpa Phadke is co-author of *Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets
*.*
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