Two-hundred-and-eighty buses have been dropped from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) fleet. The undertaking on Wednesday failed to crack the deal with a wet lease operator at a meeting and has now decided to slap a legal notice and terminate the contract with the contractor, Hansa City Bus Service Private Limited, for the withdrawal of its buses.

In areas in the western suburbs such as Andheri, Jogeshwari and Goregaon, 280 buses have been off the road due to the wet lease contractor’s inability to operate the buses since last week, inconveniencing thousands of commuters.