The petrol and diesel strike that severely affected commutation last week has inadvertently proved to be a boon in disguise for the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST). As the city was almost on the verge of getting crippled owing to the strike, commuters opted for the BEST buses in order to avoid inconvenience, thus resulting in the rise in its revenue by nearly a crore.

According to the figures obtained from BEST, the city’s transport arm recorded a growth of over 13 lakh passengers — it carried 57 lakh commuters — on the day of the strike and its revenue increased to Rs 3.04 crore. On an average, 44 lakh commuters use the services of the BEST daily and it earns a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore.

“This time, more BEST buses ran on the road to cater to more commuters,” said BEST general manager Uttam Khobragade. Currently, the BEST has a fleet of 3800 buses.

The petrol pumps had gone dry last week after the employees of government run oil companies went on a nation-wide strike on January 7. Due to this, the taxi and auto drivers could not fill petrol and CNG gas in their vehicles. The pinch was further felt by the commuters as the auto and taxi drivers refused to ply them.