BEST’s new digital payment option soon

First India Bureau

MAN SMASHES BROTHER’S HEAD, HELD FOR MURDER

Thane: Police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old man from Ulhasnagar in the district for allegedly killing his elder brother, an official said. The accused allegedly smashed the head of his 28-year-old brother with a grinding stone at home on Friday afternoon, killing the victim on the spot, said inspector Chandrakant Godse of Ulhasnagar police station.

Mumbai: To increase its digital footprint, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking will be offering ticketing choices for digital buses and Metro. The transport body is introducing the Paytm transit card, which will operate on Metro lines and BEST buses, and a new electric AC doubledecker bus that is entirely digital and does not issue paper tickets.

The Paytm transit card will be introduced in March and is aiming to provide commuters with a convenient way to pay for their rides on Mumbai Metro services and BEST buses. The card is directly connected to the Paytm Wallet, making all recharges and transactions online. For those unversed, the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is already available for commuters to use on BEST buses. The NCMC is an interoperable physical mobility card that supports the government’s One Nation, One Card project.

Connecting Mumbai

First India Bureau Mumbai: Many routes were affected after the recent withdrawal of 400 buses by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST). Although it has said that they had deployed 297 buses on these affected routes. While trade unions called for the scrapping of wet-leasing buses urging BEST to buy their own, a team of engineers from Tata Motors arrived in the city to inspect the buses. The BEST undertaking on Thursday said nearly 400 CNG-run buses which were taken off roads will be back in service only after a written assurance of safety is received from manufacturer TATA Motors.

“A team of TATA Motors engineering arrived from Lucknow and is reexamining all these buses for compliance with safety standards and safety norms. Once they complete examination of safety parameters and give necessary clearance and written commitment and assurance of safety norms compliance, these buses will be back in service. The safety of commuters is of paramount importance for BEST, no compromise can be made on this count,” a BEST spokesperson said.