After being at an all-time low for seven months, the BEST fleet finally crossed the 3,000 mark on Wednesday as new buses arrived in the fleet - taking the fleet to 3,008 buses in Mumbai. A senior official said that the undertaking expects to increase the fleet size to 3,500 in the next 3 months -- catering to the demand from 35 lakh daily commuters who now have to wait in long queues for a bus during peak hours.

The fleet had gone below 3,000 last year for the first time in the past 15 years, leading to acute shortage of buses on roads and affecting the frequency on busy routes. A BEST official said that with the fleet size now increasing gradually, there should be more buses and better frequency.

However activists and transport analysts are not happy with the 3,000-mark. They petitioned the BEST on Wednesday, saying the fleet should be at 4,500 buses as on date to cater to commuter rush. “Also, the wait time at bus stops should not be more than seven minutes,”said A V Shenoy from Mumbai Mobility Forum (MMF), a think tank. He further said that a lot of orders for electric AC buses were pending, including the AC double deckers and demanded that contractors should be penalised for any delay every month while at the same time incentivised for early deliveries.

As per the latest figures, the BEST fleet comprises 1,099 own buses operated by its own drivers, while ,1909 buses are running on wet lease.