The indefinite strike, called off on June 21 after acceptance of certain demands, by employees of Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking brought daily life in the city into sharp focus. With thousands of buses being off the roads, commuters have been forced onto already crowded suburban trains, metros, taxis and auto rickshaws. But to view the strike merely as a labour dispute would be to miss the much larger story.
What has unfolded over the past week, between June 19 to June 21, 2026, is the culmination of years of unresolved worker grievances, mounting concerns about the privatisation of public transport, chronic underinvestment in the bus system, growing dependence on contractual labour, and a broader policy debate over whether Mumbai still treats affordable public transport as an essential public service.
The strike has therefore become a flashpoint where labour rights, commuter interests, public finance, urban planning and transport policy have collided.
Notably, the three-day indefinite strike by Mumbai’s BEST bus employees was called off late Sunday night following a meeting with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. According to Hindustan Times, the decision to call off the strike was announced after the state government agreed to a monthly wage hike of ₹3,000 for permanent employees and ₹2,000 for contract workers, along with the release of pending gratuity payments from the current financial year’s budget. It also assured improvements in canteen and washroom facilities for employees.
Strike years in the making
The BEST Sanyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, a joint action committee representing all twelve major unions operating within the undertaking, is leading the agitation. The scale of participation itself is significant. Union representatives have claimed that workers across all 27 BEST depots have joined the movement, making it one of the most extensive industrial actions witnessed within the undertaking in recent years.
The immediate trigger may have been the failure of negotiations with the administration, but workers insist that the issues underlying the strike have accumulated over many years.
At the centre of their demands is the implementation of wage agreements that have remained unresolved despite prolonged negotiations. Union leaders have pointed out that wage settlements covering the period from 2016 onwards have not been fully implemented. Employees have also demanded the extension of benefits in line with the Seventh Pay Commission, arguing that workers of a public undertaking performing an essential service cannot be left behind while the cost of living in Mumbai continues to rise.
Equally significant are allegations that retired employees have been denied statutory dues for years. During the Dharavi protest that preceded the strike, union representatives stated that some retirees had not received payments due to them since 2022, forcing many into financial distress. Protesters also alleged that wait-listed workers continue to be denied even minimum wages despite performing essential functions within the undertaking.
As reported by The Indian Express, one of the unions’ principal demands is the implementation of wage agreements for the period 2016–2026 together with arrears and benefits in line with the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations. The unions have also repeatedly demanded that pending legal and statutory dues owed to retired employees be cleared in a lump sum.
Workers have also highlighted the plight of wait-listed and contractual employees who, according to the unions, continue to receive inadequate wages and lack the protections available to permanent staff. These concerns have been repeatedly raised over the years, but workers argue that little substantive action has followed.
For many employees, therefore, the strike is not simply a reaction to current conditions but a response to a long history of unmet commitments.
The Demand That Symbolises the Larger Conflict: Merger of BEST’s budget with the BMC
Among all the demands raised during the agitation, none has assumed greater symbolic importance than the call for the merger of BEST’s budget with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s principal budget. Workers argue that this issue has remained unresolved despite years of discussions and despite approvals and resolutions at various levels. According to employee representatives, the proposal was effectively accepted years ago but remains stalled within government processes. The significance of the demand extends beyond accounting arrangements.
For unions, according to India Today, the merger represents recognition that public transport is an essential civic service and should be funded as such. They argue that BEST cannot continue to be expected to operate on commercial principles while simultaneously fulfilling social obligations that private operators would never undertake.
This position has received support from commuter groups and transport activists who argue that the financial crisis confronting BEST stems from a fundamental policy contradiction: the city depends on BEST to provide affordable transport to millions, yet repeatedly expects the undertaking to function without the level of public investment necessary to sustain such a service.
The unfinished question of BEST’s finances
The financial debate surrounding BEST has become one of the most contentious aspects of the current dispute. According to transport activists, as per The Indian Express, the problem is not that public money is being spent on BEST. The problem is that it is being spent inconsistently and often through mechanisms that deepen rather than solve the undertaking’s financial difficulties.
Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST has pointed out that between 2019 and 2025, the BMC provided more than ₹10,400 crore to BEST largely in the form of loans rather than direct subsidies. Critics argue that treating support to public transport as debt merely shifts the burden onto the undertaking while doing little to strengthen its long-term viability.
The organisation has also highlighted what it views as a stark disparity in public funding priorities. While rail-based transport systems receive substantial public support as an essential service, BEST buses—which carry lakhs of passengers daily and provide critical last-mile connectivity—have often been subjected to a very different financial approach. The result is a perpetual cycle of deficits, debt and austerity.
Mumbai needs 12,000 buses; it has less than a quarter of that number
Perhaps the most striking issue emerging from commuter groups concerns the sheer inadequacy of Mumbai’s bus fleet. According to Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST, a city of Mumbai’s size requires approximately 12,000 buses to adequately serve its population. Yet the city currently operates fewer than 3,000 buses. This shortfall has profound consequences.
It translates into overcrowded buses, long queues at bus stops, reduced route coverage, longer waiting times, irregular services and increasing pressure on other forms of public transport.
For residents living far from railway corridors and metro stations, the consequences are particularly severe. Buses remain the most affordable and accessible form of public transport for students, senior citizens, women, persons with disabilities, hospital patients, informal workers and millions of lower-income commuters.
Transport activists argue that instead of expanding bus services in line with population growth, policy choices over the last decade have steadily reduced public transport capacity.
As a result, many commuters have been pushed towards more expensive transport options or private vehicles, further contributing to congestion and inequality in urban mobility.
The wet-lease experiment and the growing backlash
No issue better captures the broader ideological dispute surrounding BEST than the wet-lease model. Over the past decade, the undertaking increasingly shifted towards buses owned and operated by private contractors. According to The Indian Express, unions have pointed out that of the approximately 2,800 buses currently operating in the fleet, only a small fraction are directly owned by BEST. The overwhelming majority are operated through wet-lease arrangements involving private contractors.
When introduced, the model was promoted as a solution to financial constraints and operational inefficiencies. Workers, however, argue that the promised benefits have failed to materialise. According to the unions, outsourcing has not solved BEST’s structural financial problems. Instead, it has created a two-tier workforce in which contractual employees often work under more precarious conditions and with fewer protections than permanent staff.
The unions also contend that outsourcing has weakened accountability within the transport system while transferring public functions into private hands.
For many workers, the strike represents a rejection of a model they believe has steadily undermined the institution.
Safety concerns and the human cost of outsourcing
The criticism of the wet-lease system is not limited to labour rights. Commuter groups have linked the model to growing concerns regarding public safety. Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST notes that between January 2023 and December 2025, BEST buses were reportedly involved in 958 major accidents resulting in 77 deaths and 217 injuries. The organisation argues that the pattern points to deeper systemic issues.
According to the memorandum, contract drivers often work under difficult conditions while private operators have incentives to minimise expenditure on maintenance and training. The group contends that these pressures create risks not only for employees but also for passengers and pedestrians.
The memorandum further recalls earlier concerns raised regarding operational defects in electric buses, including braking issues, delayed door closure systems and battery-related problems.
Whether every accident can be attributed to outsourcing remains contested. However, the scale of the figures has strengthened demands for a comprehensive review of the current model.
The fight over depots and public land
Another major fault line concerns the future of BEST’s depots. Workers and transport activists have expressed strong opposition to proposals involving redevelopment and monetisation of depot lands through public-private partnerships. Their concern is not merely ideological. They argue that depots are critical pieces of transport infrastructure. They serve as maintenance facilities, operational centres, charging stations, worker facilities and storage spaces necessary for running a large bus network.
Once such land is transferred or leased for commercial development, critics warn, rebuilding equivalent infrastructure in a densely populated city like Mumbai may become virtually impossible. Previous monetisation exercises have failed to deliver the financial turnaround that was promised. They point to outstanding recoveries from earlier redevelopment projects and argue that selling public assets generates only temporary revenue while leaving underlying operational problems unresolved. For them, public transport land should remain dedicated to public transport purposes.
Mumbai’s urban priorities
The dispute has also revived broader questions about how Mumbai allocates public resources. Activists, as per MoneyControl, argue that the city has invested heavily in infrastructure designed primarily to facilitate private vehicle movement while neglecting the needs of millions who depend on public transport.
They point to a decade of road infrastructure expansion, flyovers and large transport projects alongside a shrinking bus fleet and deteriorating bus services.
The result, they argue, is an inversion of priorities: enormous investments benefit private mobility while the most accessible form of transport for ordinary residents struggles for survival. For commuter groups, the BEST crisis therefore reflects larger choices about the kind of city Mumbai is becoming.
What workers and commuters are ultimately demanding?
Despite differences in emphasis, workers’ unions and commuter organisations are advancing remarkably similar demands.
They seek:
- Immediate payment of pending retirement benefits and statutory dues.
- Implementation of wage agreements and Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
- Regularisation and protection of contractual workers.
- Merger of BEST’s budget with the BMC’s main budget.
- Stable public funding rather than debt-based support.
- Absorption of wet-lease workers.
- A major expansion of the city’s bus fleet.
- Reversal of policies that have reduced direct public ownership and operation of buses.
- Protection of depots and transport infrastructure from commercial redevelopment.
- Recognition of public transport as an essential public service deserving long-term public investment.
Opposition silent on Mumbai woes?
While citizens forums like Amchi Mumbai have been pro-active even as Unions have collectively brought attention to the deliberate crippling of BEST Undertaking once an international display for a working and extensive public transport system. The relative inactivity of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, read Shiv Sena (Udhav Balasaheb Thackeray-UBT) with 65 corporators and the Indian National Congress (INC) with 15 was expected by Mumbaikars to support, with its own cadre, this issue. Instead, BEST employees and their unions have been forced to raise this issue in isolation!
A crisis that cannot be resolved through negotiation alone
The strike may eventually end through negotiations over wages, benefits and working conditions. However, the questions it has raised will remain. For years, workers have complained of unpaid dues and broken commitments. Commuter groups have warned that the city is systematically underinvesting in bus transport. Activists have questioned outsourcing, depot monetisation and shrinking public ownership. Yet many of these concerns have remained unresolved. The current confrontation has brought all of those issues into a single moment.
What is now at stake is not merely the settlement of an industrial dispute but the future direction of Mumbai’s public transport policy itself. The central question confronting the state government and the BMC is whether BEST will continue to be treated as a struggling enterprise expected to fend for itself, or whether it will be recognised and funded as what millions of Mumbaikars already know it to be: an indispensable public service and one of the city’s last remaining democratic forms of mobility.
Here is the BEST memorandum for view:
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