Although a licence was granted, the project was never realized due to the prevailing economic depression in the city brought on by the end of the American Civil War, during which Bombay had made vast strides in its economy by supplying cotton and textiles to the world market.

[1] On 9 May 1874, the first horse-drawn tram made its debut, plying the Colaba–Pydhone route via Crawford Market, and Bori Bunder to Pydhonie via Kalbadevi.

[4] The passing years aggravated the problem of rush-hour traffic, and to ease the situation, double-decker trams were introduced in September 1920.

Despite stiff opposition and protests by taxi drivers, the service ran without a hitch, transporting 600,000 passengers by the end of that year.

In response to pleas by the government and the Bombay Municipal Corporation, the company extended its services to the northern part of the city in 1934.

The Indian independence movement's call for mass nonviolent strikes and general civil disobedience led to regular service disruptions, causing the company to incur huge losses in 1929.

To remain solvent, it decided to introduce discounted fares for short routes and increase its coverage to the northern portions of the city.

By mutual agreement, the corporation also took over the operation of the bus services, which was run by the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Company.

The case dragged on for four years before the Supreme Court of India granted the organisation a complete monopoly over bus services in the Greater Bombay area.

In 1964, due to high operational costs and poor public support, its long-running tram services were terminated.

[10] On 19 November 2004, route SPL-8 travelling from Churchgate to the World Trade Centre had started accepting cashless smart cards for automatic fare collection in BEST buses.

After the 9/11 bombings, BEST had installed an audio-visual surveillance system (CCTV) on each of its buses to monitor suspicious behavior on-board its vehicles but it is no longer done.

A new era for BEST began in 2019 when it revised its fare and increased bus fleet by inducting non-AC and AC buses on wet lease.

The "Chief Engineer – Electric Supply" (CEES) is in-charge of material testing and the Standards, Meters and Relays and the Review departments.

[12] BEST enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the BMC; the latter approves its yearly budget and permits increases in bus fares when required.

[16][17] BEST placed a ₹3,675 crore (US$420 million) order with Olectra Greentech to supply and maintain 2,100 battery electric single-decker buses for a 12 year period in May 2022.

[18] In February 2023, India's first battery electric double-decker AC bus was deployed by BEST on the A- 115 route.

All buses have GPS devices installed which give real time information about arrival to management as well as passengers.

Inside the bus there are LED indicators displaying route and destination as well as upcoming stop name in Marathi and English.

Each depot is a work center that provides bus services effectively every day, carries out preventive maintenance, as well as repairs on buses.

As of 2021, the BEST runs approximately 3,800 buses,[30][31] ferrying 5 million passengers[32] over 443 routes, and has a workforce strength of 38,000, which includes 22,000 bus drivers and conductors.

[35] On 9 September 2022, BEST announced an advance ticket reservation system for its airport bus service through the Chalo App [36]

The museum was founded by P D Paranjape, the BEST officer who religiously collected bus tickets, engines, ticket-issuing machines from depots across the city.

The power cables are laid underground, which reduces pilferage and other losses that plague most other parts of India.

Unlike the transport company, the electricity department services only the Mumbai City area, and not the suburbs.

[45][46] Newer management techniques, such as retrenching of excess staff (494 till date),[13] and the closure of less patronised routes, have reduced the losses in recent years, from a high of ₹ 1.75 billion ($40.1m) in 2001.

In July 2005, the company floated tender inquiries to 54 banks to exchange the loose change, which totalled ₹ 46.7 million ($1.07m).

However, none of the banks sent in a single bid, some citing that their vaults are full, and others saying it would be unprofitable for low denominations, given security considerations.

When BEST decided to do away with the double-deckers for operational reasons recently, public protests and sentiment forced it to continue with the service.

Bus drivers and conductors have come in for praise in the media for their service during the 2005 Mumbai floods, when they ensured that all the stranded passengers were dropped safely to their respective destinations.