Given the decline in the rate of the bus fleet in the city, the BEST undertaking will not have their own bus by 2027 and all the buses in its fleet will be that of the contractors. And with such a state, employee benefits of the undertaking are at standstill with no staff promotions, no refilling of vacancies and all such issues remaining unsolved, alleged trade union on Tuesday.

 As per the latest data, the BEST fleet comprises 1,099 own buses operated by its own drivers, and 1,909 buses running on wet lease belonging to contractors, making the total fleet of 3,008 buses in all. "The fleet is declining every day and if this situation continues, there will be zero self-owned buses by 2027. Since there are no new buses coming, there is stagnancy among the employees too. There are no employee benefits happening, no promotions and no vacancies being filled up. There have been no promotions after 2015 and there are more than 12,000 vacant posts," the BEST Workers' Union general secretary Shashank Sharad Rao said.