MUP "Express" is a municipal unitary enterprise providing passenger Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Region. In 2026, the enterprise found itself at the center of a dispute over the redistribution of urban bus routes to a private carrier.[2]

Loss of Routes

From 1 July 2026, MUP "Express" was stripped of 11 urban routes — nos. 1, 5, 8, 8a, 15, 22, 23, 33, 205, 206, and 213.[4] Operation of these routes was awarded, following a competitive tender, to the private company OOO "Stolitsa Avto", which was the sole participant in the contest for the right to operate them. MUP "Express" did not submit a bid.[2][3]

After the tender results were announced, Dzerzhinsk residents expressed concerns about whether the new carrier would be able to field the required number of buses on the transferred routes.[4] Deputies of the Dzerzhinsk City Duma likewise questioned Stolitsa Avto's ability to properly serve the routes it had been awarded, and voiced concern about the threat of bankruptcy facing MUP "Express" after losing a significant portion of its route network.[2][3]

Strike Threat and Official Response

The enterprise's drivers posted a video appeal on social media demanding a meeting with the city administration and threatening to call a strike and halt public transport operations if none was forthcoming.[4] According to the workers, the enterprise's management had given them no answers to the questions that had been piling up.[3]

On the evening of 10 August 2026, Dzerzhinsk head Mikhail Klinkov responded to the situation by posting a message on VKontakte stating his intention to meet personally with the Express workforce. "I can see that people have questions that the enterprise's management is not answering. So I will explain the situation myself," wrote Klinkov.[3][2]

Sources

  1. 52.ru (Nizhny Novgorod) — Dzerzhinsk drivers threaten strike, mayor steps in (archive)
  2. Otkryty Nizhny — Drivers of MUP "Express" in Dzerzhinsk threaten strike
  3. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — MUP "Express" drivers threaten to call a strike in Dzerzhinsk (archive)
  4. 52.ru (Nizhny Novgorod) — Dzerzhinsk pensioner defrauded of 18 million rubles