Children often ask Yatin Pimpale why BEST buses are red. He replies that just as local trains are the city's arteries, BEST buses are its blood vessels. Tucked away on the third floor of a building without an elevator at Wadala's Anik depot, the BEST museum charts how Mumbai developed one of the world's best bus networks.
Pimpale, who retired in February after nearly four decades of service, was the driving force behind this remote museum. He answered the landline, guided visitors, and ended tours by presenting his visiting card: a collage of paper BEST bus models he made himself. Last summer, he was still in charge, rising from beneath a 150-year-old fan to walk visitors through a century of red buses and reversible backrests.
The museum originated in the 1980s when BEST memorabilia flooded a storeroom in Dharavi. It began as a warehouse in Kurla. Marathi author S.N. Pendsay was writing a book called The BEST Story, and employees and the public sent artefacts to aid his research. These miniature models, figures, postcards, and tickets were moved to the larger Anik Bus Depot in 1993 by Pandurang Paranjpe, a BEST liaison officer known for showing old bus slides on his home projector.
During a visit, Pimpale guided visitors through Mumbai's transport history. He flicked a switch, and a tram drawn by two wooden horses chugged across a table, transporting children back to the early 1900s. The Bombay Tramway Company was formally established in 1873. By May 1874, the first horse-drawn tram ran from Colaba to Pydhonie. The initial fare was three annas, and no tickets were issued. Despite opposition from bullock cart and victoria drivers, trams gained popularity. Fares dropped to two annas, and tickets were introduced later to curb ticketless travel.
In 1904, BEST acquired a licence to supply electricity. Pimpale flipped the wooden passenger seats of electric trams to show how conductors reversed the backrests 180 degrees for return journeys. Trams did not turn; only the backrests did. When motor bus services launched in 1926, economics required persuasion. Since bus tickets cost more than tram fares, conductors stood outside holding placards urging people to take the bus.
Electric buses are not a modern novelty, Pimpale noted. Today's models use lithium batteries, but the first electric bus, the SKODA trolley bus, used positive and negative currents and operated from Gowalia Tank to Mazgaon between 1962 and 1971. The 8,300-square-foot museum offers something for everyone. Children scramble aboard the 90-year-old chassis of Mumbai's first double-decker diesel bus for selfies. Adults are drawn to trivia: actor Johnny Walker was a BEST conductor earning Rs 40 a month in the 1940s; Sunil Dutt, Hasrat Jaipuri, Prashant Damle, Sharad Ponkshe, Avinash Narkar, and Arun Nalavade also have BEST chapters in their biographies.
In the heyday of single-screen cinemas, long before app-based taxis, BEST ran dedicated Cinema Special buses connecting railway stations like Churchgate and Bombay Central with iconic theatres such as Regal, Eros, Metro, and Liberty. The buses waited outside the halls and ferried audiences home after the show. A 1960s BEST timetable in the museum's collection is among the rarer finds that bring this era to life. Those early tickets sometimes doubled as advertisement hoardings for new film releases, said curator Ambadas Garje.
Another extinct transport species is the coupled bus, a motorised bus towing a non-motorised one, discontinued in 1966, and the semi-articulated trailer bus that operated from 1967 to 1986. Also featured is the now-defunct BEST printing press's collection of tickets and coupons. After 1947, ambitions grew faster than approvals. Unfulfilled schemes included overhead rails and a metro, for which engineers were sent to Japan in 1956 and 1962. Former deputy general manager P.G. Patankar went to Berlin and Milan to study underground railway systems. Today's Metro Aqua Line 3 runs almost parallel to Patankar's plan.
New curator Garje, who was Pimpale's assistant during the visit, now fields the same questions in Marathi, Hindi, or English. He unleashes his own trivia: bus 9 winds past schools from Colaba to Antop Hill; route 166 once linked government hospitals. Many visitors head straight for the currency cabinets, which hold coins and notes from around the world that fell from tourist wallets over the decades, routed through lost and found before landing here. Halfway through the tour, the lights went out, leaving BEST staff red-faced. When power returned, the cabinets glowed again and the ancient fan above Pimpale's desk began to whirl.
The museum plans to mark the centenary with a special commemorative exhibition where it hopes to sell a few rare tickets. Bus enthusiasts in the city have already secured their spot in the celebrations. On July 15, Pimpale will ride the special week-long heritage bus that will ply the original route from Afghan Church to Crawford Market. Ticket cost? Three annas.
The BEST Transport Museum is located on the 3rd Floor, Anik Bus Depot, Wadala. It is open Monday from 7 am to 3:30 pm and Tuesday to Sunday from 7 am to 5 pm. Closed on public holidays. Entry is free. Call 7208971177 before visiting for a guided tour.
