Making this declaration, BEST general manager Vinay Mohan Lal claimed the step was a result of poor financial performance of the fleet of air-conditioned buses which operate on four routes in the city. ``The response of the public to these buses have been fantastic, but the pattern of traffic has not been of much use to us,'' he said.

According to him, though the buses are filled to capacity during peak hours in one direction, they run nearly empty in the opposite direction. Moreover most of the passengers get on from starting points like Ghatkopar or Oshiwara bus depots and then get off only at World Trade Centre, which is the last stop. ``We need short-distance passengers to earn money,'' said Lal.

At present the ticket rates on air-conditioned buses are fixed at one-and-a-halftimes that of the ordinary tickets. The management wrote to the state government asking for permission to increase the rates a few months ago. ``We received the permission to increase the rates to 300 per cent nearly six weeks ago, but we are yet to take a decision on it,'' said chairperson of the BEST committee Arvind Nerkar.

One of the options the management is looking at is charging the increased amount during peak hours while keeping the rate the same during non-peak hours. ``This could see a decrease in peak hour rush and fill up the non-peak hour services,'' hoped Lal.

BEST is planning to put 23 additional air-conditioned buses on the roads by August.

On the bright side, a new 110 KV supply station will start operations at Colaba from tomorrow. This station, to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Narayan Rane, will cater to the entire business district of south Mumbai. ``It will help increase the reliability of the power supply system in the city,'' said Nerkar.

Two tourist buses of the undertakingRamani and Anandyatri will also start operations soon. These will take tourists around various parts of the city for charges of nearly Rs 80 per person. Ramani, a double-decker bus, will run in south Mumbai, while Anandyatri will take tourists through the suburbs.