MUMBAI: In three years, from January 2023 and December 2025, there have been 958 major accidents involving BEST buses, resulting in 77 deaths and 217 injuries, according to data with the BEST. Sources in the undertaking said more than 85% of these accidents involved wet-lease buses, putting the spotlight once again on an operational model that relies heavily on private contractors.Mumbai, India. June 08, 2026 - One delivery boy was dead, and seven others were injured after a BEST bus rammed into several vehicles near Plaza Cinema in Dadar (West) on Monday morning. Mumbai, India. June 08, 2026. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)On Monday, BEST committee members, comprising elected representatives, criticised the model, saying the system may need to be reviewed. “I have asked the wet-lease operators to reduce these accidents as people’s trust in wet-lease BEST buses is dwindling. If things don’t improve, we may have to do away with the wet-lease model,” said Trushna Vishwasrao, chairperson of the BEST committee in the civic body.Sucheta Uthale, public relations officer, BEST, did not respond to HT’s text messages or phone calls for comment.Under the wet-lease model, BEST contracts private operators to provide both buses and drivers. The loss-making corporation therefore does not have to invest in buses and can scale according to its needs.The contractors bring their own fleet of buses, maintain them and hire drivers. The final oversight, however, rests with the BEST, whose primary responsibility is to make sure wet-lease operators follow its SOPs.However, the BEST committee placed blame squarely on the private contractors, saying they don’t pay their drivers enough. A BEST official said, “We found at least 12 buses with technical faults that had been given the go-ahead to operate. These were withdrawn from service. Also, wet-lease operators have been requesting us to reduce the number of mandatory training hours, which is four weeks, as it is impacting their schedules.”BEST sources said wet-lease buses will have to follow the same checks that the BEST’s owned fleet is subjected to. The buses will be inspected at each depot by BEST inspectors, engineers and wet-lease staff.The BEST has begun levying penalties of ₹10,000 per violation where defects are ignored. In May itself, there were at least ten instances where BEST buses were involved in accidents and suffered maintenance issues.In 2024, a series of fires in buses forced the administration to order technical audits for all CNG buses. Furthermore, incidents of buses frequently breaking down on the road due to technical flaws have were reported.