Lahore Metro Bus service was suspended for hours on Monday when its drivers went on strike.
They refused to drive on their routes and blocked the road to the bus depot in retaliation for non-payment of arrears. They also demanded that the Punjab Mass transit Authority (PMA) management pay their dues.
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According to a report by The News in May, the salaries of the staff had been held back due to the delayed release of the subsidy provided by the Government of Punjab to the PMA. It detailed that the provincial government is paying an annual subsidy of Rs. 12.5 billion for the Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Multan Metro Bus projects in four quarterly installments but the installments had been delayed due to certain administrative issues, which is the likely cause of the late issuance of the salaries.
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The Rawalpindi Metro reportedly had similar issues in 2019 and earlier this year that involved the token issuing staff and drivers going on strike. They said that the PMA had been issuing them unjustified fines and was delaying the release of their salaries.
However, an official from the PMA had rejected their claims and said that “some elements wanted to create a bad image of the administration, so they used the drivers to hold protests”.
