Mumbai: BEST workers protest over conductor-less buses

BEST trade unions and citizens' group Amchi Mumbai, Amchi BEST NGO participated in a long march from Dadar Plaza Cinema to Wadala Depot against conductor-less buses and for the merger of BEST & BMC budgets.

There were traffic jams along the entire stretch of the long march with even bus delays reported as per BEST's own Twitter handle.

The BEST Sanyukt Kaamgar Kruti Samiti had drafted a nine-point charter of demands, including various measures for the welfare of BEST employees and the organisation as a whole. "We want the BEST to cancel the running of conductor-less buses and fill up vacancies at the earliest," BEST trade union leader Shashank Sharad Rao said.

Pressure group Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST (AMAB), which was formed in 2017 with the objective of reviving the BEST Undertaking and make public transport affordable, said they participated in a ‘long march', with an environmental objective in mind because public transport was an environmental issue and concerned the society at large.

Among the other demands include merging of the BEST and BMC budgets, dedicated lanes, spend money on buses instead of Metros and car-centric project, re-introduce discontinued routes and expand bus services.

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