Mumbai bus crisis worsens as BEST strike enters second day

Against 48 buses operating on the road on Friday, bus operations completely stopped by Saturday afternoon with zero buses plying across South and Central Mumbai. According to BEST officials, only four wet-lease buses were plying on city roads on Saturday morning against the scheduled deployment of 2,767 buses. Although around 246 BEST-owned buses had been restored for service, none could leave the depots as striking employees refused to report for operational duties.

By 2 pm, bus operations had come to a complete halt, with zero buses running against the scheduled deployment of 2,665 services.

The poor turnout came despite 263 BEST personnel — including inspectors, starters, drivers and conductors — reporting for duty, along with nine wet-lease bus drivers by Saturday evening.

The strike, led by the BEST Sanyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, a joint action committee comprising 12 unions, began at midnight on Thursday.

Among the key issues raised by workers are the merger of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ‘C’ budget allocated to BEST with its main ‘A’ budget, payment of pending legal dues to retired employees in a lump sum, reduction in the undertaking’s dependence on contractual operators, and the absorption of wet-lease employees into the permanent workforce.

The agitation continued to affect commuters across Mumbai, forcing many to depend on auto-rickshaws, taxis and app-based cab services for last-mile connectivity.

Story continues below this ad

Outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), many commuters waited for 20 to 30 minutes before making alternate travel arrangements. Among them was Navi Mumbai resident Ruksana, who had travelled to south Mumbai with her four-year-old daughter, Ayesha. “I had come to explore the South Mumbai area with my daughter, but had no idea that bus services had been suspended in the city,” she said.

The disruption was particularly visible during the morning peak hours, when long queues formed for shared auto-rickshaws and taxis at several locations.

Even as striking employees expressed sympathy for inconvenienced commuters, they remained firm on their demands. “In the past, when BEST routes were curtailed or commuters faced service issues, people immediately took to the streets. Why is there no similar outrage now despite the major inconvenience caused to both commuters and workers?” asked a conductor from the Backbay depot.

Meanwhile, the undertaking initiated measures to minimise inconvenience to commuters. BEST officials requested the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to arrange an additional 100 buses. In view of the NEET re-examination scheduled on Sunday across 63 centres in Mumbai, the administration also arranged 60 additional buses between 9 am and 1 pm and again between 5 pm and 7 pm, while issuing instructions to depot managers to facilitate operations.

Story continues below this ad

The strike has continued despite a meeting between union representatives and State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Friday evening.

Appealing to workers to withdraw the agitation, Sarnaik said, “A strike by the organisation’s workers could cause immense hardship to students, office-goers, senior citizens and other commuters.”

While union leaders thanked the Transport Minister for facilitating discussions, they alleged that the BEST administration had failed to accurately convey the outcome of the meeting. “While the demands presented by the BEST Action Committee were deemed reasonable by Sarnaik saab, who also stated that they would be discussed with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers, these assurances were absent from the minutes of the meeting shared with the Committee,” said Uday Ambonkar, of the BEST Joint Action Committee.

Accordingly, Ambonkar said the agitation would continue in the absence of a concrete decision and appealed to the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers to convene a working meeting at the earliest to discuss the pending issues.

Story continues below this ad

While bus operations remained crippled, BEST officials maintained that electricity supply across the undertaking’s distribution network continued without disruption.