Over 200 buses go off roads as drivers go on strike

Over 200 BEST buses halted for 5 hours due to a flash strike by wet-lease drivers protesting an insult to a pregnant conductor in Mumbai.

MUMBAI: Over 200 BEST buses went off roads for five hours on Monday after wet-lease drivers of an operator went on a flash strike, protesting a recent incident where a lady conductor was allegedly insulted by employees of another wet-lease operator.

Mumbai, India. Jan 13, 2025: The contractual drivers of a private operator hired by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking went on a flash strike at Pratiksha Nagar Depot in Mumbai. Mumbai, India. Jan 13, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

The strike, called by employees of Mateshwari Urban Transport, started at 8pm and was called off at 1pm. This happened when the operator and its employees went to the police to register a complaint against the operator whose employees has used foul language and insulted their colleague. After taking down their complaint and promising investigation, police asked them to call off the strike.

As per preliminary information, when a lady bus conductor in an advanced stage of pregnancy sought easy duties from the company manager (BEST is trying to ascertain when the incident occurred), he purportedly denied her the option and insulted her. This infuriated other conductors and drivers from this wet-lease operator who went on a flash strike.

According to sources, 110 buses from Pratiksha Nagar depot and 100 buses from Dharavi depot went off roads. People in the know have told HT that the flash strike “impacted at least 100 bus routes plying on south and central Mumbai and the eastern suburbs”. An official added, “In order to ease inconveniences for passengers, we diverted a few BEST-owned buses on these routes.”

The buses that were off roads comprised around 7% of total fleet of 2878 buses. There are 1935 buses running on wet-lease while the rest is owned by BEST that has accrued losses close to ₹10,000 crore.

Buses operated by Mateshwari Urban Transport run on the following routes: Santacruz, Majas, Wadala, Mulund, Dharavi and Pratiksha Nagar depots. BEST authorities said the administration will penalise contractors and levy fines on the wet-lease operator.

This flash protest inconvenienced several passengers waiting for buses at many locations across the city. Ramesh More, resident of Wadala said, “We were waiting for almost 30-40 minutes for buses to arrive and finally each arrived packed to capacity. I had to take a cab to the nearest station.”

Meanwhile, employees of these wet-lease operators are unhappy about their salaries and frequent delays in the payment period. “Our working conditions are terrible. We are expected to complete the scheduled trips even though it exceeds working hours. We get lower salaries too compared to BEST employees,” said a BEST wet-lease driver working for an operator. The drivers and conductors claim that they are not receiving salaries on time, and have been demanding that they should be hired as permanent workers.