The BEST Undertaking plans to run some more of its buses without conductors, a decision which was fiercely opposed by the workers' union through a protest on Friday. The decision comes after the Undertaking invited tenders to procure 300 additional diesel-run AC buses, which would take the total number of AC buses (electric/CNG/diesel) on its fleet to 2,000 by 2021.

Speaking to mid-day, Shashank Sharad Rao of BEST Workers' Union, said, "This is a clear game plan to get private ticket operators. They will do away with the existing conductors by saying that there is excess staff and then set up booths of private operators to issue tickets."