MUP "Express" is a municipal unitary enterprise providing public passenger transport services in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Region. In 2026, the enterprise found itself at the center of a conflict over the redistribution of municipal bus routes in favor of a private carrier.[1]

Loss of Routes

From 1 July 2026, MUP "Express" lost 11 municipal routes — nos. 1, 5, 8, 8a, 15, 22, 23, 33, 205, 206, and 213. Prior to this loss, MUP "Express" had operated 14 municipal routes for many years.[2][1] Operation of these routes was awarded through a tender to the private company OOO "Stolitsa Avto," which was the sole participant in the competition for the right to operate them. MUP "Express" did not submit a bid.[1][3]

Following the announcement of the tender results, Dzerzhinsk residents voiced concerns about whether the new carrier would be able to provide a sufficient number of buses on the transferred routes.[1] Deputies of the Dzerzhinsk city duma also questioned "Stolitsa Avto's" ability to adequately service the routes it had won and expressed concern about the risk of MUP "Express" going bankrupt after losing a significant portion of its route network.[1][3]

Strike Threat and the Authorities' Response

The company'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 their demands were not met.[1] According to the workers, the company's management had not provided answers to their accumulated grievances. The situation surrounding the MUP "Express" municipal enterprise was discussed at a meeting convened at the initiative of Evgeniy Lyulin, Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Legislative Assembly; the meeting was attended by representatives of the regional government, the Ministry of Transport and Roads, and the Dzerzhinsk city administration. As a result of the meeting, the management of MUP "Express" was deemed ineffective, and the director of the enterprise was relieved of his post.[2][4][3]

On the evening of August 10, 2026, Dzerzhinsk Mayor Mikhail Klinkov responded to the situation by posting a message on VKontakte announcing his intention to meet personally with the "Express" workforce. "I can see that people have questions that the company's management is not answering. So I will explain the situation myself," Klinkov wrote. Following his meeting with the enterprise's staff, Klinkov announced that the director of MUP "Express" had received a formal reprimand for failing to submit an application for the municipal transport tender: the director had offered no convincing explanation for his non-participation in the bidding. Workers at the MUP reported a possible switch to a four-day working week and pay cuts; Klinkov noted that the administration would need to address these issues as well.

After the loss of part of the route network, the wages of some of the enterprise's employees had fallen by roughly three times; against this backdrop, six drivers decided to resign.[2] The financial and operational activities of the enterprise are currently under review by the Dzerzhinsk Chamber of Control and Accounts; upon completion of the audit, the authorities intend to conduct a broader audit and separately evaluate the enterprise's internal production processes.

The Dzerzhinsk administration, together with the regional Ministry of Transport, plans to develop a financial model for the enterprise and draw up a road map defining the next steps for guiding MUP "Express" out of its crisis. The situation at the enterprise prompted the workforce to approach Yuliya Garevskaya, a deputy of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Legislative Assembly, who subsequently announced her intention to work with the regional Ministry of Transport to develop additional routes for MUP "Express" with the aim of increasing the enterprise's workload.[2][4][3][1]

Sources

  1. Otkryty Nizhny — Drivers of MUP "Ekspress" in Dzerzhinsk threatened a strike (archive)
  2. Otkryty Nizhny — Following a meeting attended by Legislative Assembly Chairman Evgeniy Lyulin and Dzerzhinsk head Mikhail Klinkov, the management of MUP "Ekspress" was found (archive)
  3. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Drivers of MUP "Ekspress" threaten to declare a strike in Dzerzhinsk (archive)
  4. Newsroom24 — After meeting with the enterprise's staff, Dzerzhinsk head Mikhail Klinkov announced that the director of MUP "Ekspress" had received a reprimand for refusing to submit a bid for the tender
  5. Vremya N — MUP "Ekspress" has been operating since 2003 and is the largest public transport enterprise in Dzerzhinsk. The enterprise's staff numbers more than 400 employees (archive)
  6. 52.ru (Nizhny Novgorod) — Dzerzhinsk drivers threaten strike, mayor steps in (archive)
  7. 52.ru (Nizhny Novgorod) — A pensioner from Dzerzhinsk lost 18 million rubles (archive)