Cut the cr-app: BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi skewers BEST bus locator

  • | Tuesday | 17th September, 2019

Pardeshi asked a young man waiting for his bus at the stop oppositte Mumbai University to download the app and got BEST officials to familiarise him with it. The bus for the youth's route number had left already and the app did not highlight the next one on the route. Projecting Politics BEST launched its mobile app, BEST Pravas, on Sept 9, to let its 30 lakh commuters track buses on any route The app was launched by Uddhav Thackeray. As he headed back to the BMC HQ across the road, he suggested a couple of corrective measures to the BEST officials. There should be stickers at every bus stop advertising it.

Civic commissioner Praveen Pardeshi became the first vocal critic of BEST's mobile app launched last week by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, just ahead of the state polls. On Monday Pardeshi visited some SoBo bus stops – including at Hutatma Chowk and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus – to interact with passengers, asking them to download 'BEST Pravas' app and give their feedback. When he heard the commuters complain that the live location of the buses was not visible on the app, he asked the civic transport undertaking to take immediate measures to rectify the programme and popularise the app. He reached Hutatma Chowk around 2.05 pm, accompanied by BEST general manager Surendra Bagde and other officials. Pardeshi asked a young man waiting for his bus at the stop oppositte Mumbai University to download the app and got BEST officials to familiarise him with it. The bus for the youth's route number had left already and the app did not highlight the next one on the route. He ended up boarding a different bus. Projecting Politics BEST launched its mobile app, BEST Pravas, on Sept 9, to let its 30 lakh commuters track buses on any route The app was launched by Uddhav Thackeray. Shiv Sena has been trying to position itself as BEST’s saviour. It intends to use the revival efforts as an electoral achievement On the other hand, CM’s ambitious project, Metro 3, has been hindered by its coalition partner Sena is using every platform to attack the civic chief and MMRCL MD in its bid to show Sena’s BEST vs BJP’s Metro The civic officials then moved to a neighbouring stop and interacted with college-going girls who had been made to download the app. Again, the bus on the route the collegians' were seeking to track did not show up. Even as Pardeshi questioned the BEST officials present at the site about the glitch, the girls' – with Pardeshi and Bagde listening – said they would just call a cab as they had to make it in time for their tuition. And they did. Some officials later told DNA not all the buses in BEST fleet had been synced with the app, which is why they were unresponsive at the time. As the team suggested that the civic commissioner visit CSMT to sound out more commuters, Pardeshi remarked that the problem was not with the passengers but the app, which should have shown the live location of buses. At CSMT, a couple of passengers said they could see the route number of their buses, but the corresponding stops were being shown at another location. Pardeshi had earlier said that app users' complaints would be continuously monitored throughout the month. On Monday, he said he noticed people were also facing inaccuracies with buses' arrival time, as they were reaching the stop later than predicted by the app. As he headed back to the BMC HQ across the road, he suggested a couple of corrective measures to the BEST officials. "I have asked them to send staff from their IT department to bus stops and explain to commuters how the app works. There should be stickers at every bus stop advertising it. These are teething troubles that will be addressed," he said.

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