When the lockdown started a year ago, Mumbai’s BEST bus turned into not just Mumbai’s but also the MMR’s lifeline. Trips were started to far-off places like Ambernath and beyond, which in pre-COVID times was unprecedented.

On March 20, 2020 the chief minister’s office announced a shutdown. As public buses were asked to ferry essential workers in the absence of trains, the BEST plied on 16 routes and on the demand of hospitals, went beyond the city limits to places like Ambernath and Titwala. Eventually, BEST buses were going to Badlapur.