According to the proposal prepared by the Undertaking — which was passed by the committee members on October 10 — BEST provides its buses on reservation basis to schools for picnics, parties and excursion tours and also for wedding ceremonies, cultural events, film and advertisement shootings.

“Since the buses are new and of an upgraded version, the reservation charges will be slightly higher than those charged by conventional air-conditioned buses,” the proposal stated.

The charge for the King Long and Volvo buses in general reservation has been set at Rs 75 per km and Rs 3,000 as minimum charge, while rates for conventional air-conditioned buses is Rs 50 per km with a minimum charge of Rs 2,000. Charges on Sunday and other holidays is Rs 70 per km with Rs 2,800 as minimum charge. Also, the Undertaking has decided to charge Rs 15,500 for a full day and Rs 7,500 for half day, on a flat rate basis.

Hiring charges for film shooting, television serials, advertisements and promotional campaigns — which is one of the major sources of revenue for the Undertaking — is Rs 10,000 per hour with a minimum charge of Rs 30,000. Conventional air-conditioned buses charge upto Rs 7,000 per hour keeping Rs 21,000 as minimum charge.