'Rude' bus staff victims of poor work condition

On September 5, a Brihanmumbai Electric Suburban Transport driver from Mumbai Central depot consumed a bottle of pesticide and attacked two seniors. Shankar Mane flew into a rage, apparently after being told that his favourite conductor had been assigned a different duty.

Mane apart, scores of drivers and conductors from the transport undertaking often face allegations of misdemeanour, mostly by commuters. However, scratch the surface and a paradigm shift awaits you.

The staff attributes outburst of anger on their part to sorry state of retiring rooms, where drivers and conductors can opt for a power nap when they aren't ferrying passengers, long working hours and high stress levels.

Wooden benches are their beds or a bus seat is placed as a cushion. While there are only a handful of such benches or seats, they are shared by half a dozen staffers at any given point of time the day. This means they have to squeeze in and 'adjust' – rest becomes a distant dream.

"There is wash room at the Bhandup station bus terminus. The employees have no option but to go to the railway premises. Although there are plenty of restaurants outside Kandivali station (West), the canteen at the BEST terminus is shut for months, with no clear idea of when it will re-open. The scene is no different at other depots," said Jagnarayan Gupta from BEST Kamgar Sanghatana.

"To add to our woes, there isn't any activity or facility available for us to de-stress," shared a bus conductor requesting anonymity.

Trade unions continue to point out the newly introduced Canadian (computerised) duty schedule for additional stress as their working hours have shot up considerably, even though they are paid for overtime. Earlier, the working hours were an average of 8-9 hours a day, but it is now between 10 and 12 hours.