The BEST on Wednesday submitted its budget for 2023-24 to the civic corporation, projecting a reduction in losses by Rs 250 crore in the transport division and a profit of Rs 120 crore in the electricity supply division but no hike in bus fares till March 2024. The budget showed an overall deficit of Rs 2,000 crore, the estimated gap between revenue and expenses.
The BEST has proposed to start "water taxis" along the eastern waterfront and is in talks with the Mumbai Port Trust and the Maharashtra Maritime board."We are looking at the viability of this newly proposed project, which is mentioned in our budget and will explore the possibility of running our own BEST water taxis across the coastline in the next financial year," said BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra who submitted the budget copy to the civic commissioner, I S Chahal, on Wednesday afternoon. As per the BEST’s budget proposal submitted to the BMC, its parent body, there’s a provision of around Rs700 crore to buy 700 new buses and around Rs1,200 crore to upgrade the electricity supply network.