Around 578 buses stayed off the road as union pushes for benefits enjoyed by full-time BEST employees; the protest, led by BEST Workers’ Union general secretary Shashank Sharad Rao, included a morcha to push for parity with full-time BEST employees
Trade union workers present BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani (left) with their demands
The one-day strike called by the trade union on Tuesday, demanding ‘Equal work, Equal pay’ and other benefits for BEST undertaking’s wet lease workers, impacted bus operations, with around 578 buses staying off the road and nearly 70 per cent of buses running for the day. The protest, led by BEST Workers’ Union general secretary Shashank Sharad Rao, included a morcha to push for parity with full-time BEST employees. Fortunately, SSC exam students had a study leave, avoiding any inconvenience.
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“The operation of BEST bus services was affected, but the BEST tried to facilitate passengers by inducting more buses and maintaining the bus service with the help of regular BEST drivers and conductors,” a BEST spokesperson said. “Of the scheduled turnout of 1,969 buses, about 1,391 buses were able to be operated as 578 buses stayed off the roads due to the protests,” he added.
Speaking on the fines levied to wet lease operators, the spokesperson added that as per terms and conditions of the contract work order, there is a provision for an infraction of Rs 5,000/- per bus per day for non-operation of the bus due to any reasons. “The amount of infraction is calculated at the end of the month and after due audit, the said amount is recovered from their monthly bill payment,” he added.
Activists speak
“During school children's exam time, such tactics are shameful. Take strict action against the strikers. Make alternate arrangements, taking the help of ST buses. That is called crisis management, not posting a message on social media and feeling you have done your duty,” activist Nikhil Desai said.
“Loyalty to the undertaking comes through the staff who are on the payroll. Wet-lease staff on contract, toil during duty hours however their part salary is taken away by the wet-lease contractor. Employ drivers on your payroll only then BEST can survive. But you will not because you are out to shut down and offer it to private players so that prime depot land can be sold,” activist Bharat Soni said.
Commuters speak
Another commuter Sunil Advani said, “BEST, one of the country’s best bus services, has become the worst service. BEST infrastructure needs to be improved, please deal with this with an iron fist and appoint a new professional urban transport planner as its head. Students and citizens are suffering and no one is bothered.”
“How long should the commuters suffer? High time action will be implemented against the contractors!” commuter Sarkar Aranya Parthasarathy said. “Commuters are unhappy, wet lease staff are unhappy, the frequency of buses is bad, the quality of buses has deteriorated, and only decision-makers are happy. Why is the reputation of Bestbus being damaged? another commuter Naitik G criticised.
“The wet lease contractors do not follow rules and have been ignoring workers's rights. We have cried for the implementation of the 'equal pay for equal work' principle, to focus on the essential nature of their duties. To press their demands, workers staged a protest at Azad Maidan with a memorandum handed over to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the city civic chief,” Rao said.
Wet lease bus accidents
As per data available, the number of accidents of wet-leased buses has shot up from 13 in 2023-2024 to 79 in 2024-2025 as compared to that of BEST’s self-owned buses over the years, where the number of accidents has been 55 in 2023-2024 to 27 in 2024-2025.
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