BEST connects Mumbai Metro with BKC hub
Mumbai, June 26: In a major initiative, the BEST public transport has launched new bus services connecting Mumbai Metro One's WEH station with the business hub of Bandra Kurla Complex, an official said here on Tuesday.
The new air-conditioned bus service between Western Express Highway station and BKC offer point-to-point connectivity to and fro, as an improvement in the last mile connectivity.
The new feeder route of BEST which started from Monday with 40-minutes intervals, will ensure smooth commuter movement from the Reliance Infra's Mumbai Metro One stations to various commercial complexes in the city.
It ensures that once a commuter steps out of a Metro train, he or she can board an AC bus to reach the bustling commercial centres in the BKC area conveniently and return between 8 a.m.- 5.20 p.m. daily, with the BEST buses making 23 round trips.
The BEST No. 16 will connect key junctions like domestic airport, Vakola Police Station, Kala Nagar and offers pickup-drop at commercial important points like Family Court, RBI, IT Building, ICICI Bank, Diamond Bourse, CitiBank and BKC Telephone Exchange, the termination point.
This service is expected to motivate more commuters give up their own cars and adopt a comfortable travel by public transport, besides affording a cost-effective option of between Rs 21 to Rs 53, compared to private taxi services, the official said.
Since the WEH Metro station attracts average 23,500 commuters daily, the company is promoting the BEST services in a big way on traditional and social media platforms.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
