The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) on Thursday announced the launch of the fourth route of its premium bus service. The new designated route, between Mumbai Airport and Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, will help connect the commuters to and from the Mumbai airport and Kharghar. BEST officials said that the commuters can book tickets for the route, like the other three premium bus services, in advance via the Chalo app from Saturday, February 11.The premium bus services had a good response so far on the three routes, said Lokesh Chandra, BEST general manager. “Recently, we launched the service on Mumbai airport to Cuffe Parade route to cater to the needs of commuters travelling from south Mumbai to the airport. Now, the Kharghar-Mumbai airport premium buses will help flyers travel in luxury buses hassle-free. The objective to introduce premium bus service by the BEST is to provide commuters a comfortable, commuter-friendly journey just like they hire a private cab service," he said.
According to the officials, per day, 1,500 commuters use these bus services on all routes of which the Mumbai airport-Cuffe Parade premium buses have an average footfall of 300 passengers on daily basis.“The premium buses have an occupancy of 70 to 80 per cent on a daily basis. While presently there are five buses functional, in the next two weeks, we will have a total of 10 premium buses,” said Chandra. The services are available between 7 am to 9 pm.He said presently BEST is working on the frequency of the services. "Soon we will be providing the premium bus services in the 15-20 mins frequency time. We will also be working on providing premium service round the clock for the commuters.”Besides Mumbai Airport to Kharghar, Mumbai Airport to Cuffe Parade, the premium bus services operates on the Thane to Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Bandra station to BKC routes on a daily basis.